Iran is booted from U.N. women’s group

United Nations — The U.N.’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) voted Wednesday to boot Iran from the preeminent women’s forum, the 45-nation Commission on the Status of Women — a part of ECOSOC. The vote on the U.S.-drafted resolution was 29 to 8, with 13 abstentions.

The push to remove Iran was initiated by the U.S. in November, after protests erupted across Iran following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the “morality police.” Protesters chanting the rallying cry “Woman, life, freedom!” filled the streets in the most public challenge to the regime in years.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield told council members that Iran should be removed because “the Commission is the premier U.N. body for promoting gender equality and empowering women. … It cannot do its important work if it is being undermined from within.”

“Iran’s membership at this moment is an ugly stain on the Commission’s credibility,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

Thomas-Greenfield also spoke about Mahsa Amini: “Mahsa Amini just wanted to finish her studies. She wanted to start a family. She wanted to live a normal, happy life. She was just a student. But now she’s a martyr. On September 13, when Mahsa stepped off a train in Tehran, she was accosted by the so-called ‘morality police’ and accused of wearing her headscarf improperly. … We know three days later, while still in police custody, she died. We know she was killed for the crime of being a woman.”

Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani blamed the repeated actions of the United States as hostile, and questioned the legality of the vote.

“The U.S. request is entirely illegal as the Council members are fully aware that there is no precedent in the Council’s practice of terminating an elected member’s participation in a functional Commission for any alleged reason, nor it is supported by the Council’s rule of procedures,” Iran’s ambassador said at the meeting.

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