About us
History of the association
“Welle-Verein für Menschenrechte und Freiheit” is a charitable, non-denominational association, founded 2004 and registered in commercial register in canton Zurich.
The supreme governing body of “Welle” is the general meeting, at which all association members are entitled to vote. It elects the board members and the executive committee. The board (comprising five members) is responsible for strategic management and overseeing the operational office, which in turn is responsible for planning and implementing the association’s projects.The “Welle” association is a tax-exempt association.
An official accounting firm in Zurich audits the financial account of the Welle association every year.
Every year, the association makes its annual report available to donors for free by mail.
The “Welle” association is supported by volunteers who work on an unpaid basis.
Administrative costs are thus kept to a minimum and are largely covered by corporate sponsorship.
This means that the largest percentage of donations is channelled directly into projects.
Our aims
- Promoting human rights
- Promoting freedom in Iran
- Rescuing victims of torture
- Aiding refugees
- Supporting efforts to bring about democracy and gender equality in Iran
- Promoting intercultural and interpersonal understanding
How do we go about achieving our aims?
- Recording human rights violations and persecutions
- Taking legislative measures to prevent and punish acts of torture, execution and repression in Iran
- Putting on events, exhibitions, campaigns, public meetings, conferences, TV and radio broadcasts
- Supporting, preparing, producing films, books and other documentation to inform and educate
- Raising awareness of human rights and gender equality issues
- Assisting and participating in activities of like-minded organisations
- Collecting financial donations as well as donations of materials
Raise awarness
Despite United Nations condemnation of the Iranian regime, there is still limited understanding of the extent of human rights violations in Iran. The international media ignores the true record of human rights abuses.
The many restrictions placed on journalists, the mass arrests of human rights activists and the widespread repression in Iran make it very difficult to get the latest information on the situation there. One of our main tasks is therefore to report on the human rights situation in Iran.
We raise awareness by holding events, talks, conferences and exhibitions, and producing films and information leaflets, which have a readership of thousands in Switzerland today.
Help
Our responsibility, first and foremost, is to work towards saving human lives.
In 2016, we were involved in rescuing 3,000 Iranian dissidents of the religious dictatorship. Our association’s support has brought positive change into these people’s lives. After decades of imprisonment facing the constant threat of death, they now have a new outlook and future ahead of them.
The “Welle” association has covered the costs for logistics, medical treatment and medicines for the sick and for needy refugees.
Thanks to another project that we support, numerous executions in Iran were prevented last year and the lives of many detainees and human rights activists saved.
Change
With our documentation and educational activities, continual calls for interventions, appeals and petition campaigns, we strive to maintain pressure on the Tehran regime at an international political level.
We approach human rights commissioners in governments, parliaments and the UN, as well as human rights representatives in the European Parliament and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva.
Our impact
- Interventions at the highest political level against death sentences, executions and other human rights violations
- Continuous monitoring of the human rights situation in Iran by the international community
- Consistent international pressure exerted on the Iranian regime to end repression
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