In response to Tehran’s brutal crackdown on anti-regime protesters, the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on Wednesday voted to remove Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) for the remainder of its 2022-2026 term.
Of the 54 members, 29 voted to remove Iran, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Israel. Eight countries (Bolivia, China, Kazakhstan, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Russia, and Zimbabwe) voted against the resolution, while 16 countries, including India, abstained.
If winning the United Nations vote to undo the abomination of the Ayatollah’s election to a UN women’s right body led only to this celebration in the town of #MahsaAmini, it would have been enough for us. https://t.co/faYgWGh11y
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) December 15, 2022
The resolution, introduced by the US in November, urged ECOSOC to remove Iran from the CSW because Iranian authorities “continuously undermine and increasingly suppress the human rights of women and girls,” particularly since the beginning of anti-regime protests in September.
Accusing Iranian authorities of using “excessive force” against women and girls, the document stresses that Iran’s inclusion in the CSW contradicts the commission’s goals.
We started work to get Iran’s brutal gender apartheid regime thrown off the UNCSW from when it was first admitted. Now that this travesty has been corrected, world leaders should snap back UN sanctions, list Khamenei, & unapologetically back the democratic revolution. #مهسا_امینی https://t.co/ofLfyuBAKp
— Mariam Memarsadeghi (@memarsadeghi) December 14, 2022
Iran condemned the resolution as having no legal precedence and violating the UN charter. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said the vote was a move by the US “to impose unilateral political demands and ignore the election procedure in international institutions.”
Calling Iran’s ouster from the commission “political heresy,” Kanaani said the vote “discredits” the independence of the CSW. He also condemned the commission for including the “fake Israeli regime” that oppresses Palestinians.
“The US’ action is condemned and unacceptable in the great Iranian nation’s opinion and in the court of judgment of the awakened consciences and independent governments of the world,” he mentioned.
A European official told me her govt opposed Iran's removal from the UN Committee on the Status of Women
— Karim Sadjadpour (@ksadjadpour) December 14, 2022
I asked her govt's policy on apartheid S. Africa
"We're not proud of that," she said
One way of thinking about policy is to make decisions you'll be proud of in the future
Likewise, Iran’s permanent representative to the UN, Amir Saied Iravani, said the US’ “unlawful” action undermines the rule of law at the UN. He called the resolution a “stark example of US hypocrisy” and stressed that Iran “categorically rejects and strongly condemns” the resolution.
A group of 19 countries from Asia, Africa, and Latin America also issued a statement condemning the resolution. The group, led by Venezuela, said the resolution “is purely based on allegation” and its adoption “politicises” the work of the UN.
The very first victims of the dictatorship in #Iran were Iranian women and ever since, they have been on the forefront of the movement to free our nation from its yoke. Today, they succeeded in removing this regime from a place it never belonged: the @UN_CSW. #MahsaAmini
— Reza Pahlavi (@PahlaviReza) December 14, 2022
However, US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the vote to oust Iran from the commission reflected the will of Iranian women. “Iran’s membership directly undermines the commission’s work. Its membership was a stain on our credibility,” she declared.
Greenfield said the UN has stood for Iranian women’s rallying cry of “women, life, and freedom.”
Similarly, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, called Iran “the worst women’s rights offender in the world,” saying it is “alarming” that Iran could be a member of the CSW for so long.
“Whoever does not support the resolution is complicit in the murder of women,” Erdan said, noting that “Iran embodies evil just as Hitler’s Nazi regime did.”
If the US can't restore its puppet govt, it stages a coup. If it can't halt your gains in nuclear energy, it assassinates your scientists. If you refuse to obey its oppresive policies, it imposes UCMs. If it can't stop you from joining an int'l body, it expels you via tyranny. pic.twitter.com/gNWE9fRYYq
— Permanent Mission of I.R.Iran to UN, NY (@Iran_UN) December 14, 2022
Welcoming the decision, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said Iran’s “blatant violations of women’s rights disqualify it from being a member of a committee that deals with women’s rights.”
He said the vote is proof that the international community has begun to understand “the dangerous nature of the Iranian regime.”
Anti-regime protests erupted across Iran in mid-September in the wake of the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by Iran’s morality police for not wearing her hijab correctly. Amini was brutally tortured and died while receiving treatment at an intensive care unit of the Kasra hospital in Tehran.
What initially began as protests demanding an end to mandatory hijab laws have gradually morphed into a nationwide movement calling for the end of the theocracy in Iran. Protests have spread rapidly across the nation and galvanised school and university students, including girls, labour unions, and prisoners.
Today, we stood up for Mahsa.
— Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield (@USAmbUN) December 14, 2022
For Niloufar. For Elaheh.
For Sarina. For Nika.
And for so many others.
For all the women and girls of Iran. pic.twitter.com/zkq0Qet5tw
Nationwide demonstrations have continued to spread for almost three months. According to an estimate, at least 494 protesters, including 68 children and 29 women, have been killed in clashes with security forces. The Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group notes that protesters have been killed in 26 provinces, with the greatest number of deaths having occurred in the Sistan and Baluchistan, and Kurdistan provinces.
Iran has also begun publicly executing arrested protesters. On Thursday, Iran executed a 23-year-old man, Mohsen Shekari, for injuring a paramilitary officer; three days later, authorities publicly hanged another 23-year-old man, Majidreza Rahnavard, on the charge of “enmity against God.”
The IHR has stated that at least nine protesters have been officially sentenced to death and dozens more, including children, face death penalty charges. The organisation has also reported that Mahan Sadrat, 23, is at “imminent risk of execution,” as the judiciary has named him next in line to face capital punishment. The rights group has called on the international community to intervene.