Iran removed from UN women’s rights body after US push
Iran's removal from the 45-member Commission on the Status of Women comes as Tehran continues its brutal crackdown on its nationwide protests.
Iran was ousted on Wednesday from a women’s rights agency at the United Nations following a successful US push to reprimand Tehran over its brutal treatment of women.
The Islamic Republic's four-year term on the 45-member Commission on the Status of Women came to an end following a vote on a resolution introduced by the United States. The UN body is tasked with promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment, and Iran was elected as a member last spring.
The UN’s Economic and Social Council, a 54-member body that oversees and elects members of the commission, voted on Wednesday to remove Iran for the remainder of its term. Twenty-nine UN member states voted in favor of the resolution, with 16 abstaining. Eight members — Bolivia, China, Kazakhstan, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Russia and Zimbabwe — opposed it.
The United States had pushed heavily for Iran’s removal from the commission, with Vice President Kamala Harris saying in a Nov. 2 statement, “Iran has demonstrated through its denial of women’s rights and brutal crackdown on its own people that it is unfit to serve on this Commission.”
