Iranian Teachers’ Trade Association
An affiliate of Education International, the Iranian Teachers’ Trade Association (ITTA) is a trade union of educators which concentrates on the union rights of teachers and students since 1998. The board of directors and the members of ITTA have been prosecuted for their defence of the teachers’ rights to peaceful assembly and association.
Coordinating Council of the Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations (CCITTA) established in 2001, is the coordination body consists of around 20 provincinal chapters of ITTA in Iran. They have been organizing peaceful protests for proper classification of teachers, the harmonization of retirees’ pensions, the release of the detained teachers’ rights defenders, the recognition of students’ rights to free education under Article 30, and teachers’ rights to peaceful assembly under Article 27 and their rights to association under Article 26 of the Iranian Constitution. Most recently, they have been coordinating several peaceful protests, rallies and sit-in across Iran since the beginning of the new school year in September 2021.
Hope for political reform in Iran surfaced when President Hassan Rouhani assumed office in 2013 and dozens of opposition political figures and human rights defenders were released. However, violations of the rights to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly and movement of HRDs continue to be prevalent.
