CNFI representatives tell Brussels:

CNFI representatives tell Brussels:

“Iran’s different nationalities can have a fair and common future only in a federal and decentralized
democracy”

Brussels, 6 June 2012

Two days of meetings in Brussels on 4-5 June 2012 have enabled representatives of the Congress of Nationalities for a Federal Iran (CNFI) to raise the issue of ongoing human rights violations, especially against non-Persian peoples, and to reiterate the wide support for the concept of a federal Iran.

Nasser Boladai and Loghman Ahmedi, representatives of the CNFI, participated in a series of visits, organised by the Unrepresented Peoples and Nations Organization (UNPO), during which they engaged in constructive discussions with Members of the European Parliament, European officials, political advisers, human rights organisations, think tanks and foundations.

These meetings built upon the progress made from previous CNFI advocacy visits in Brussels, most notably the two-day conference on ‘Human Rights, Democratisation and Federalism in Iran’ organized by the UNPO and CNFI in the European Parliament.

The central issue continued to be the persistent human rights violations and discrimination on the basis of language, religion or ethnicity. Nasser Boladai and Loghman Ahmedi, as well as the other members represented by the CNFI are convinced that Iran’s different nationalities can have a fair and common future, only if their rights are guaranteed within a federal and decentralized democracy.

A clear outcome from the meetings was the need to provide the European Union with information from which it can gain an accurate image of what is happening in Iran. CNFI representatives, Mr. Boladai and Mr. Ahmedi, suggested a “third way” – namely empowering the opposition as an inclusive movement for constructive and consensual change.

The unity of the support expressed during the meetings held is hoped to culminate in a European Parliament Urgency Resolution, with the CNFI intending to further the discussion of federalism and decentralization as an option for Iran and its peoples with practical measures this year and into the future.

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