Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS and by Shirin EBADI, 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner give a statement in front of the plenary in occasion of the International Women's Day Celebration.

statement

Strasbourg

plenary session

METSOLA, Roberta (EPP, MT, EP President)

International Women's Day (T)

EBADI, Shirin (IR)

women's rights (T)

CRISTOFORETTI, Samantha

International Women's Day Celebration: statements by Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS and by Shirin EBADI, 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, Dear Madame President Metsola, dear President Michel, president Von der Leyen, dear Dr. Ebadi, dear members of the European Parliament, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. It is an immense honour for me to be here today.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, I'm very grateful for the invitation to participate in the Parliament's celebration of International Women's Day, and I am truly humbled by the opportunity of speaking here today at the centre of our European democracy and decision making. And I am humbled by the opportunity of taking the floor.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, Just before Dr. Ebadi, a woman who has been a true champion of women's rights in the face of brutal discrimination and who has suffered terrible personal consequences for her willingness to fight. And for that, I thank you, Dr. Abadi.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, As an astronaut of ESA, the European Space Agency, I would like to take this opportunity to talk to you about what I know best, which is the European space activities, the role of ESA and the synergies with the European Union. Space is out there, but it's also here among us every day.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, It's an essential element of everyday life. We take it for granted. Sometimes we even don't notice it. And yet space is woven into the fabric of every modern society. It is well known that we rely on space assets to provide important services like Earth observation, communication, navigation.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, Services that we need, for example, for environmental monitoring to mitigate the consequences of climate change. For weather forecast, disaster response, internet access, TV broadcasting, even smart traffic. Space assets are even crucial for energy provision or financial transactions and many other vital economic functions.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, And ESA works constantly to ensure that these essential services are secured and that all relevant assets are managed efficiently and remain available to support the policies that you, the political decision makers set for us for the benefits of European citizens, be it about climate change, the green transition, the digital transformation, sustainable development or inclusiveness.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, And let us not forget security. I think that the grim political context that we are facing these days has highlighted the importance of security related space activities. And as you know, last Friday, the Commission and the High Representative presented for the first time a joint communication on a European space strategy for security and defence.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, And the European Parliament will play a crucial role and ESA will provide its contribution. But space is also a powerful engine of prosperity and economic growth. Today, the global space market is already worth about 340 billion U.S. dollars and by the late 2030, by some estimates, space could generate a revenue of 1 trillion U.S. dollars.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, And such tremendous growth potential can be in part ascribed to a profound transformation of our industry, often referred to as the new space revolution. New players are getting involved, often from outside of the traditional space sector. Old and new companies pursue profit and growth through novel business models, risk sharing with public institutions, through public private partnerships and early financing through venture capital.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, The reduction in the cost of access to space brought about, for example, by the reusability of launchers has made mega constellations a reality. The miniaturisation of electronics has made satellite platforms smaller and cheaper and yet more capable and versatile. Let me add, however, in all honesty, that many of these new space developments are far more advanced in North America than they are here in Europe.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, Still, the opportunities are there for Europe to take. If we choose to be ambitious in our goals and pursuits. ESA's member states have already raised the level of ambition. In a ministerial meeting, last November in Paris, secured a record budget of €16.9 billion for the coming three years.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, That is a 17% increase with respect to the preceding ministerial back in 2019m. A clear sign that our Member States understand space as a strategic component of our industrial and technological sovereignty. ESA brings world class expertise, unique knowhow in the area of space, science, technology and applications along with its rich experience in space project management.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, But an ambitious European approach needs partnerships with national institutions, academia, industry and with the European Union. ESA and the European Union each bring their specific mandates, competencies and strengths to the table. ESA's agenda 2025, which was published on the very first day in office of ESA's Director General, Josef Aschbacher lists a renewed and enforced partnership between ESA and the EU as a top priority.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, ESA and the EU have embarked on major common success stories. Copernicus, the world's largest and most successful Earth observation programme, providing decision makers, researchers, entrepreneurs and the public with information on the state of our planet.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, Galileo, Europe's own global navigation satellite system, providing highly accurate, guaranteed global positioning service under civilian control, featuring the world's most accurate navigation system and the new secure Connectivity, IRIS²Program, which will provide a new sovereign and secure space based communication infrastructure in Europe to improve strategic autonomy, digital resilience, security, technological non-dependence and commercial competitiveness.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, Many in the European Parliament may not know, but ESA was at the origin of both flagship programmes, copernicus and Galileo. And ESA is grateful that the EU and the European Parliament stepped up to the challenge and enabled what have become two of the world's most successful space programmes.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, We can all be proud of these achievements and is is particularly grateful to implement these programmes together with the EU. ESA, we have a full agenda this year. Among other things, we are tackling the critical European launcher situation with the top priority of restoring independent access to space for Europe.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, And Copernicus, who are preparing the next generation Sentinel satellites. And we do need to close a funding gap of €721 million. The European Parliament's support will be crucial to achieve this. We will also launch two exciting new science missions.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, JUICE, to explore the icy moons of Jupiter in April, and Euclid, with which we will better understand dark matter and dark energy, in July. Ladies and gentlemen, Europe has a rich history of space achievements, including what is possibly dearest to me in human spaceflight.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, Through our partnership in the International Space Station, we have secured opportunities for Europeans to fly to space. And for European scientists to do research in microgravity. We are a strong partner in the NASA led Artemis Program of Lunar Exploration, providing the European Service module for the Orion spacecraft.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, And a significant portion of Gateway, a space station that will fly in lunar orbit. Together with NASA, we intend to retrieve and bring back to Earth samples of Martian soil. As a member of the European astronaut corps, I myself had twice the privilege of representing Europe in space.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, Madam President, when we spoke for the first time last September, I was serving as commander of the International Space Station, the first European woman to do so, but certainly not the last.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, At ESA, just last year, we selected a new class of career and reserve astronauts, and over half of them are women. And let me add that we selected these new colleagues of mine out of over 23,000 applicants throughout Europe. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the power of space to inspire, to spark passions in our youngsters around Europe.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, As an astronaut, I have witnessed that many times. How space can spark passions and dreams. Those passions and dreams that make our youngsters choose studies, education and careers in science and technology so that they acquire those competencies that are so strategically important for Europe, for our research, for our industrial competitiveness, for our entrepreneurship.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, I have seen how the ability of sending humans into space acts as a confidence builder in a society. It builds the confidence that a nation or a community of nations like ours can tackle the really difficult, ambitious challenges. If we can send humans into space, there's nothing we cannot do, right?

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, Let us have that ambition in Europe. I've flown to space twice. Once on a Russian Soyuz and once on an American dragon. Twice I have fulfilled my dream of flying to space. And if I can allow myself at this point in my life one more dream. That dream is that of seeing one day astronauts flying on a European vehicle.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, Flying our astronauts to space on our own vehicle, welcoming astronauts from other parts of the world on our own European space vehicle. It will be a mighty political, strategic, cultural, psychological, even philosophical symbol. It would be an expression of Europe's ambition to gain a position in space that matches Europe's political and economic weight. It will allow us to continue to cooperate in international partnerships, but do that on a more equal level.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, It will allow us to not miss out on the enormous strategic and economic opportunities that space offers. It will allow us to develop and retain in Europe vital STEM talent and to develop the capabilities, but also the mindset that is needed to solve the many big challenges that we are facing for the benefits of the citizens in Europe and all over the world.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, ESA Astronaut & Commander of the ISS, Let me conclude by recognising the important role that the European Parliament, and the ITRE Committee in particular, has played and continues to play in its consistent support of space activities. You have been a competent and reliable partner for ESA, in all of our discussions and negotiations, as well as in the preparation of the legislative basis for our common space projects, Galileo, Copernicus and now IRIS². And it is therefore an incredible honour to be able to hand over today the European flag that flew with me on the International Space Station.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Your Excellencies, the Honourable President of the European Union, European Parliament, the Honourable MEPs and dear guests, and ladies and gentlemen. It is an honour for me to be among you on such a day. I'm once again, addressing, you members of European Parliament. I would like to thank you for having given me this opportunity. It's an honour for me and it is as a result of the fight and protests by my people in Iran.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, It was the Iranian women who started a revolution as a result of which the voices of the Iranian people have been heard throughout the world, including yourselves. And which has guided me to this chair today from where I'm speaking to you. As you're all aware, the revolution in Iran was sparked by the killing of a young girl, who was arrested on the street by the morality police only because a part of her hair was visible from under her scarf and she was killed.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, And the family of this girl, filed a complaint, but, to no avail. However, the lawyer who was representing the family of this young girl has been prosecuted and has currently being released on bail. Moreover, two young reporters who had published a photograph of this young girl while she was lying on a hospital bed, and had filed a report on the funeral of this young girl in the domestic media in Iran, these two journalists were both arrested on the charge of espionage.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, And to date, they are still in prison. I am talking about a country where its government kills with impunity while the profession of journalism and the legal profession is deemed a crime. And, of course, you representatives of Europe, I am sure you are well aware of the conduct of the Islamic Republic and you know that. How many of your nationals are currently being held hostage in our prisons?

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, And unfortunately, so far at least two of them, have been sentenced to death penalty. Why? Because the government in Iran, by taking your national, your European nationals hostage, wants to achieve his political objectives. In that country, what is not important is justice because our courts are not independent and they follow the security forces in Iran. They only implement the ambitious policies of the regime.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, And lack of independence, of course, is one of the most important issues in Iran. In my country, Iran, in the past 43 years, a large number of people have lost their lives for opposing such a government. Now, the regime never publishes any statistics and we only find out after verification from the families of these victims and how many have been killed.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, In this revolution, which was sparked by this young girl called Maza, which started in September 2022, to date, over 550 individuals have been killed. And at least 70 of them, were juveniles under the age of 18.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Moreover, at least 20,000 protesters have been arrested. Recently this very month, the Iranian government in a bit to deceive public opinion, they announced that they have pardoned some of these prisoners.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Of course. Yes. Some were pardoned and released. However, what is so tragic is that to say the same number of people that released, they went on and arrested exactly the same number again. And even more importantly.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, The protesters who were very influential in these recent protests remain behind bars. Freedom of expression in Iran is so restricted that only, since September 2022, 18 lawyers have been arrested merely for defending these protesters. They're being prosecuted at the moment. Some of them remain in prison. And I would like to name one of them.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Who is a colleague of mine, who has been a colleague of mine. And at the moment he is on hunger strike. His name is Mohammad Najafi. The rest have been freed on bail. And this stems from the lack of independence of the judiciary in Iran. In this very week they announced that 35 artists, filmmakers, actors and actresses, only because they had supported the peoplem have supported the protests, have had their assets confiscated, their bank accounts frozen.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Dozens of journalists. Bloggers, vloggers, writers are currently in prison. Why? Because, freedom of expression in Iran is extremely limited. The people's efforts in the past years in order to change and reform, the status quo has been in vain. And at the moment, the people, continue to stage the protests which started in September 2022. And the people's demand is that the regime be changed because they know that unfortunately this regime cannot be reformed.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, The constitution of our country has to change. With this current constitution no reform is possible. And for this very reason, the Iranian people want regime change. And the slogan is Woman, Life, Freedom. And this slogan, you can look at this slogan, from two perspectives.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, The first is, that it rejects despotic theocracy in Iran. We do not want a theocracy in Iran. Because such a government does not bring the people welfare or freedom. They have even invaded the privacy of people in their own homes. And the positive aspect of this slogan is that we want a democratic government.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, In which religion is separate from state. Because, after 43 years of experiencing the Islamic Republic, has shown us and the Muslims in the region, that if a government, it's mixed with ideology or religion, how dangerous it will become. And I this is an experience and I hope that the other Islamic countries in the region will learn from us.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, You, European states can rest assured that if democracy is established in Iran, there will be fewer refugees entering your countries. Currently, one of the main problems of the Iranian people is immigration. We are suffering from brain drain. There is no employment in Iran. Even those who manage to find jobs the earning is so low that they cannot eke out a living.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Only yesterday the chancellor of one of the most important universities in Iran announced that only in one year 70 professors have fled the country and emigrated. Now, if we have democracy in Iran the people will no longer need to emigrate or seek asylum elsewhere. Therefore, please support the establishment of democracy in Iran.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Because not only that would reduce the number of refugees in Europe, but we will also be able to build our country. Democracy in Iran will be not only to our benefit, but will also bring about peace and calm in the region. Because we, the Iranian people, oppose the regime's intervention in other countries. We are against the ambitious policies of the Iranian regime. We oppose. Iran's nuclear program.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, They have spent so much money on this and to no avail. Nuclear bomb will not solve Iran's problem. Our problem will only be solved through democracy. Democracy, I repeat, is not only good for us, but it will also be good for Europe.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, What I have said is just a small fraction of the problems faced by the Iranian people. I now use this occasion to call on the democratic states throughout the world. Please do not remain indifferent to the violation of human rights in Iran. Please do not ignore what the Iranian people are saying.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Please. Do not sign any commercial and trade contracts with the Iranian government until the human rights situation in that country improves. A few years ago, in Iran they signed the JCPOA nuclear accord. As a result, a great deal of money was sent to Iran, and for three years sanctions were lifted against Iran.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, However, in those three years, the situation of the Iranian people did not improve. Why? Because, any money received by the Iranian government is either spent on major embezzlement by the Iranian regime or it will be used in order to assist Lebanon's Hezbollah, and paramilitary groups in the region, which has disrupted peace in other countries.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, You honourable MEPs. Have you asked yourself? Why the Iranian government has not joined a FATF. Have you asked yourself? Why we have not joined the Palermo Convention. The answer to this question is very simple. If the Iranian government joins FATF, it will not be able to continue with its embezzlement. Money laundering will end in Iran.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Therefore, until we join these conventions, please, I urge you do not forge any contracts with Iran. Because be sure the money will not be spent on the welfare of the people. There is extreme poverty in Iran.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, However, the Iranian government wants to ascribe all its problems to the sanctions. That is not right. The people's poverty stems from the major embezzlement, corruptions and wrong policies of the government. Sanctions are effective. And in conclusion, in the recent protests, for the first time, we saw high school children taking to the streets to join the ranks of protesters. Why? Because they know that they have no future.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Now to create fear and intimidate those children and their families they have been using chemical gases. To poison young girls, school girls at their schools. Please write this in your history books that what this regime did to teenage girls, that they're using chemical poisonous gases against women.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Initially, the Iranian government denied these reports. They said, 'No they are fake. That's not happening'. However, when the number of these girls who were poisoned grew and the families and the teachers protested, they said 'What is going on?'.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, And then, they had to accept that this had happened. But as usual, they gave the usual rhetoric that this is the work of our enemies inside and outside the country. And they arrested a few people. But everyone knows what the real culprit, who the real culprits are.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, They're not the ones that the government has arrested, pretending they were responsible, but knowing that these poisoning of the girls is continuing it shows that those arrested were not the real culprits. I hope that my remarks has helped in a way to convince you, honourable MEPs, to stand on the right side of history.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Please make sure that the IRGC, the Revolutionary Guards, are named as a terrorist group. The IRGC, based on the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. I repeat, the IRGC, based on the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran are tasked with protecting the regime. They're separate from the military and the army, which is to protect Iran and the people of Iran.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, These violent acts are being committed by the IRGC. And once again, I urge you. Do not ignore the widespread violation of human rights in Iran. Democracy in Iran, once established, not only will bring calm to Iran, but it will bring peace and calm to the whole region.

SOUNDBITE (Persian/Farsi), Shirin EBADI, Nobel Peace Prize winner, And without any doubt, this attitude of the current government in Iran is not any help for the situation in Ukraine either. Thank you very much for having listened to me. Thank you.