Ahwaz Human Rights Organization-USA E-mail: ahwazhumanrights.org Intervention by Jamileh Sharhani to the United Nations Human Rights Council. Forum on Minority Issues, Fourth Session, 29-30 November 2011 in Geneva Agenda Item 3, Minority Women and Girls and the right to Education: Honorable chairperson, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen My name is Jamleh Sharhani .I belong to Ahwazi-Arab minority ethnic group in southwestern Iran. Ahwazi Arabs constitute an indigenous, ethnic, national and linguistic minority in Iran. Historically, this indigenous Arab community, women and men alike, have been marginalized, excluded and discriminated against by successive governments in Iran. There estimated to be 6-8 million Ahwazi-Arabs in al-Ahwaz or Khuzestan and 8-10 million Arabs throughout Iran, compromising about 10% of the population. Ahwazi-Arab share of government jobs is only 10% while 75% of the province population is Arab. Women share of these jobs are few to none. Our right to education in our mother language, Arabic, has been denied. In Iran, despite its multi ethnic and multi-lingual nature, Farsi or Persian language is the sole recognized official language. While Ahwazi women, as all women in Iran, face discrimination, as Arab minority woman, we fade multiple layers of discrimination. While the Islamic Republic of Iran exploit our oil and rakes over 100 million dollars a year and open Persian language schools in South America, Africa and other parts of the world, most villages and towns in Al-Ahwaz lack schools or have to travel tens of KMs to attend one. Where there are schools, our children are forced to study in a foreign Farsi or Persian. The result is a high illiteracy and high employment among Ahwazi-Women and girls. While the illiteracy rate in Iran, according to .government statistics is 14%, among Ahwazi-Arab men is over 50% and among Ahwazi women is even higher. The illiteracy rate among Ahwazi women is 4 times the national average. And unemployment is 6 times the national average. The dropout rate of Ahwazi students is 30% during elementary school, 50% during secondary school and 70% during high school. Only one out of 4 Ahwazi students graduates from high school, while 3 out of 4 Persian students graduate from high school. In Iran FarsilPersian language, which is native only to a 1/3 of the population, is the sole official language. Arabic and all other languages such as Kurdish, Turkish