ORGANIZATIO N: AGENDA ITEM: Third session of the Forum on Minority Issues International Kurdish Union VI Discrimination and positive measures/affirmative action Mr. Loghman Ahmedi SPEAKER: Madame President, We are deeply concerned at the ongoing economic, social, political and cultural discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities in Iran. The Islamic Republic pursues -a deliberate policy to keep Iranian Kurdistan economically underdeveloped; For example, Kurds are not permitted, to pursue economic projects above a certain budget in the Kurdish provinces.. This limits full, active and equal participation of Kurds in daily economic life and leaves the region severely under-developed. A widely used practice which discriminates against ethnic Kurds is an ideological test called Gozinesh, meaning selection. Gozinesh is used to select candidates for any state sector job, whether as a teacher, factory employee, shop worker or parliamentary_ candidate. This practice limits employment opportunities for Kurds and other groups as an ongoing marginalisation strategy. The Islamic Republic of Iran has constitutional provisions that safeguard the use of languages other than Farsi. In practice this is not the case, and this reality limits the academic and economic development of the Kurdish people. Religious and gender-based discrimination is sanctioned by the constitution, which results in second-class citizen status for millions of Iranians, including the majority of the Kurds. The constitution prohibits Sunni Muslims, Christians, Jews; Bahai or women from occupying important governmental positions including that of the President. In addition, democratic recourse to change these discriminatory economic policies is removed from Kurdish groups, since Kurdish political parties are banned in Iran and membership in a Kurdish political organization, or even the expressions of sympathy for them is punishable by several years in prison, torture and even execution. Every year, several hundred Kurds are sentenced to prison on charges of affiliation with Kurdish political parties, many of whom undergo unfair trials. Activist's family members and even friends are fired from their jobs as a result of their political activism.