Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 15th Dec. UN Economic and Social Council on Wednesday adopted a resolution to remove Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women, Iran four-year term ending in 2026.
UN body said that the development came after brutal crackdown on protests called for justice for Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman who died in police custody in September.
CSW meets annually in March in New York and is described as the biggest gathering of gender equality advocates in the world.
US introduced the resolution which was adopted by 29 votes in favor and 8 against, with 16 countries abstained.
The document expressed serious concern over the Iranian Government’s actions since September 2022 “to continuously undermine and increasingly suppress the human rights of women and girls”, and “often with the use of excessive force”.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield called the CSW the premiere UN body for promoting gender equality and empowering women.
“It cannot do its important work if it is being undermined from within,” she said. “Iran’s membership at this moment is an ugly stain on the Commission’s credibility.”
She commended Iranian activists, both in the room and around the world, for their courage, foresight, sacrifices, and leadership.
Ms. Linda Thomas recalled that Mahsa Amini was accosted by the “morality police” in Iran’s capital, Tehran, on 13 September, who accused her of wearing her headscarf improperly.
The young woman was reportedly beaten on the way to custody. She fell into a coma and died three days later, she noted.
Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield said “We know she was killed for the crime of being a woman. And for too long, for too often, this was not such an unusual thing in Iran”
Iranian Ambassaor to the UN, Amir Saeid Jalil Iravani said that Iran “categorically rejected and strongly condemned” the draft resolution,
“It is not at all unexpected that the United States is taking such unlawful action against Iran, given its long-standing hostility towards the Iranian people, but if carried out, it would be exceedingly dangerous to the UN system integrity,” he said.
UN CSW was established in 1946.
Its 45 members are elected by ECOSOC, based on equitable geographical distribution, and serve for four years.
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