Iran was ousted from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women on Wednesday due to its oppressive policies towards women and its brutal crackdown on protesters.
Twenty-nine members of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) voted to oust Tehran after the United States called on the 54-member body to immediately remove the Islamic Republic of Iran from the commission “for the remainder of its 2022 term -2026.”
In a statement ahead of Wednesday’s vote, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the commission could not “do its important job if it is undermined from within.”
FILE – In this photo taken by an individual not employed by the Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran, Iranians protest the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was arrested by morality police, in Tehran, October 1, 2022 .
(The Associated Press)
AT LEAST 24 IN IRAN AT RISK OF EXECUTION FOR INVOLVEMENT IN PROTESTS
“The Commission is the lead UN body to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment,” she said ahead of the vote. “The accession of Iran at this moment is a bad stain on the credibility of the Commission”.
Some 16 nations abstained from voting while 8 countries, including China, opposed removing Iran from the commission.
Thomas-Greenfield supported the work of women’s rights activists in Iran who protested Khamenei’s regime and called on the United Nations to act.
Tehran has come under international wrath after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was killed while in police custody in September, and whose death prompted thousands of protests nationwide.
A woman cries during a protest against the Iranian regime, in Berlin, Germany on Saturday, October 22, 2022, following the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the Islamic republic’s notorious ‘morality police’.
(AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
IRAN EXECUTES FIRST PROTESTANT SINCE NATIONAL WOMEN’S RIGHTS DEMONSTRATIONS START
Amini was arrested and beaten by Iran’s Morale Police for wearing her hijab incorrectly before succumbing to her injuries.
Women have since ditched their hijabs, cut their hair short and taken to the streets alongside male supporters in protest, calling on the regime to remove its oppressive policies and address human rights abuses.
“The Iranian government probably thought Mahsa’s death would be just another statistic. A small addition to her long record of state-sponsored violence against women,” Thomas-Greenfield said Wednesday. “But this time – this time – it was different.”
Over 18,400 people have would have been arrested with reports of disappearances, solidarity imprisonment and torture having since followed.
Iranians protest the death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, after she was arrested by the morality police, in Tehran on September 20, 2022.
(AP Photo/Middle East Images, File)
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At least two men were hanged for their involvement in the protests and 23 others were reportedly sentenced to be executed.
Iran has reportedly called for the installation of a new intelligence agency within its judicial branch to counter “propaganda campaigns of global arrogance,” Iran International reported Tuesday in apparent reference to Western opposition to Tehran’s brutal policies.
