United Nations: The United Nations on Wednesday voted to remove Iran from a women’s rights body over Tehran’s brutal crackdown of women-led protests.
The move was proposed by the United States over Iran’s brutal crackdown on protests sparked by the death of a young woman in custody.
The 54-member UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) adopted a US-drafted resolution to “remove with immediate effect the Islamic Republic of Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women for the remainder of its 2022-2026 term.”
On Wednesday, 29 voted in favor, eight against and there were 16 abstentions, as reported by Reuters.
India abstained from the vote to remove Iran.
India 'abstains' from the vote to remove Iran from United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.
UN moved the vote to remove Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women.
— ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2022
Iran’s UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani called the US move as illegal, describing the United States as a bully.
The resolution says it strips Iran of its membership of the commission with immediate effect.
The text says the Iranian leadership “continuously undermine and increasingly suppress the human rights of women and girls, including the right to freedom of expression and opinion, often with the use of excessive force,” as reported by AFP.
It adds that Iran’s government does so “by administering policies flagrantly contrary to the human rights of women and girls” and the commission’s mandate “as well as through the use of lethal force resulting in the deaths of peaceful protestors, including women and girls.”
The commission is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.
Nationwide unrest erupted three months ago after the death while in detention of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by morality police enforcing the Islamic Republic’s mandatory dress code laws.
(With inputs from Reuters & AFP)
