UN excludes Iran from collegiate on women’s rights

The UN expelled Iran on Wednesday (14) from its collegiate dedicated to discussing women’s rights.

The removal comes after a series of acts in the Persian country provoked by the death of an Iranian woman in custody of the local police for, allegedly, not wearing the hijab correctly, the Islamic headscarf.

The body in question is part of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (Ecosoc), which has 54 members. Of these, 29 voted in favor of expulsion, and eight against -16 abstained. The motion was introduced by the United States, the main geopolitical opponent of the Iranian regime.

The resolution finds that Tehran “continuously undermines and increasingly represses the human rights of women and girls, including the right to freedom of expression and opinion, often with excessive use of force.” The expulsion takes effect immediately.

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council that removing Iran was the right thing to do, describing Tehran’s membership as a “stain on the commission’s credibility”. Iran’s representative to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani, called the US action illegal and described the Americans, ironically, as bullies.

Two days earlier, the Persian country and 17 other nations released a letter arguing that the vote “will undoubtedly create an unwanted precedent that will ultimately prevent other member states with different cultures, customs and traditions from contributing to the activities of such commissions”.

Of the signatory countries, however, only five are now members of Ecosoc and, therefore, were able to vote this Wednesday. The Commission on the Status of Women, made up of 45 members, meets annually in March and aims to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment.

This is not the first UN move against Tehran in recent weeks. Last month, the Rights Council of the organization, based in Geneva, approved an independent investigation into the repression of protests in the country – Brazil abstained from the vote. At least 458 people died during the demonstrations, according to a report by the NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR),

At the time, the Islamic regime accused the West of using the council to attack Iran in a “terrible and shameful” move. The November decision establishes that an independent international investigative mission — which has little possibility of traveling to Iran — must collect evidence of violence and preserve it so that it can be used in possible legal proceedings.