About the coalition

Mission

CDHRI is a nonprofit, none-religious organization dedicated to the advancement of democracy and human rights in Iran, as defined by the United Nations charter. CDHRI aims to advocate human rights in Iran through coordinating events, publications, information sharing and organizational opportunities for the Iranian American community. CDHRI aims to provide the public with information about democracy and human rights in Iran and collaboration of actions in their defense.

Our Approach

CDHRI values networking and coalition building. Members gather in a direct democracy personal meeting to make decisions, statements and share ideas about direction and the purpose of the coalition. CDHRI is highly interested in working with other organization with similar missions to best provide a forum for events and conversation. CDHRI respects freedom of expression and freedom of assembly of all and aims to provide opportunities for shared efforts. To assure diversity of opinion, in case voting on an issue becomes necessary, members that share the same political view points will have one vote in the coalition even if they have the majority in the coalition.

History

Coalition for Democracy and Human Rights in Iran (CDHRI) is a coalition of Iranian Americans with different political tendencies and backgrounds who have come together to promote the common goal of defending democracy and human rights in Iran.

With the beginning of mass protests in Iran after the sham presidential election of June 2009, Iranians and those with Iranian descent in San Diego, like their expatriates in many other major cities in the world, took to the streets in support of the democratic rights of the Iranian people and in opposition to the tyrannical rule in Iran. During these protests the differences among the Iranian-American community regarding the nature and the goals of the uprising in Iran became more evident. These differences were evolved to a point that it was resulting in discouragement of many in the community. This would have served no one more than the clerical regime in Iran.

As a result, a group of concerned activists came together to form the Coalition for Democracy and Human Rights in Iran (CDHRI) with the goal of bringing together the maximum number of people in support of democratic rights and aspirations of the Iranian people by finding the common grounds for cooperation between different political tendencies. We plan to do this by organizing occasional protests in San Diego and by conducting educational seminars and conferences where, not only Iran’s Human Rights situation is discussed but also different view points on Iran issues are presented to the community to raise their knowledge and awareness and help find and develop those common grounds.

Vision

Our vision for the future of Iran is to have governance that is elected in a democratic and transparent election, representing the will of the majority of Iranians while recognizing the rights of the minority and staying committed to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenants and Conventions. A system in which laws and the judicial system are not based on religious beliefs but on legal principals and the will of the populous, freedom of parties, assembly, media and expression as well as individual freedoms are respected. And a system in which men and women would have equal rights and no one is discriminated against because of his/ her gender, race or beliefs.

We extend our hand to all individuals and groups who share this vision for cooperation and hope that together be able to help reflect the voices of the oppressed people of Iran and raise the awareness of our community.