Iran Removed From UN Women’s Rights Commission

Iran was kicked out of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women for the remainder of its 2022-2026 term. The vote by the 54-member UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on the resolution submitted by the United States was 29-8 with 16 abstentions.

A letter submitted to the committee by Iran, 17 UN member countries, and the Palestinians as a nonmember observer state, called on the ECOSOC to cancel the vote, calling it “an unwelcome precedent that will ultimately prevent other member states with different cultures, customs, and traditions … from contributing to the activities of such commissions.” Both China and Russia voted against the resolution.

Female Iranian activists, including some who were present for the vote at UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday, had turned to the US to author the resolution to remove Iran from the commission dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said during discussion of the resolution.

Iran has been violently cracking down on anti-government protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini, who died while in the custody of the country’s modesty police for wearing her hijab incorrectly. More than 300 protesters have been killed so far, according to the UN.

Israel’s Prime Minister Yair Lapid praised the vote in a statement, calling the move “proof that the international community is beginning to understand more and more the dangerous nature of the Iranian regime: a regime which is endangering regional and global stability through spreading terror and is seeking to obtain a nuclear weapon, all while it oppresses its own people and denies them their basic rights. It’s time for the international community to send a clear message to this murderous regime.”