Abstract:
This talk examines the conceptual foundations of women’s human rights as articulated in international law and compares them with the legal and ideological structures governing women’s human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. It undertakes a comparative analysis of the conservative–protectionist versus reformist dichotomy that shapes Iran’s domestic framework and rhetoric on human rights of women. The aim is to place this discourse in theoretical dialogue with the normative paradigms underpinning international human rights law. In doing so, the discussion delves directly into Islamic legal sources—including classical jurisprudence and the Qur’an—to illuminate the conceptual tensions and possibilities that arise at the intersection of Islamic law and contemporary human rights standards on human rights of women. The Woman–Life–Freedom movement has underscored the urgency of confronting both the systemic and doctrinal factors contributing to the persistent violations of women’s human rights in Iran, Islamic states, and countries with growing Muslim populations.

A short bio of Salar Abbasi:
Dr. Salar Abbasi teaches Islamic Legal Theory, International Legal Theory, and Islamic Legal Theory in the Global Context at Universidade Catolica Portuguesa, Faculty of Law, Lisbon (Bachelor of Laws program) and Porto (Master of Laws program) campuses. A former Alexander von Humboldt post-doctoral fellow (2022-2024) at the Faculty of Law of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Dr. Abbasi is also the author of Democracy in International Law-making: Principles from Persian Philosophy, published by Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group (London & New York, December 2021), and several blind-peer-reviewed articles in law journals. He is currently a scholar at the Research Center for the Future of Law of the Universidade Catolica Portuguesa, Lisbon Faculty of Law, and an affiliated scholar at Harvard University, Association for Global Political Thought.

Please confirm attendance by sending an email to mcandrade@ucp.pt by the 3rd of December 2025

Location: Conference Room Católica Research Centre for the Future of Law