Iran holds US responsible for orchestrating its departure from UN women's rights body

Iran was ousted from a UN women’s commission on December 14 at a plenary meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) where 29 members voted in favour of Iran’s removal. The 54-member ECOSOC voted on 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." This move comes as Iran faces vast peaceful protests led by women calling for gender equality who, activists in Tehran have claimed, are being beaten and killed in the country. Iran, which was elected to the body in April for a four-year term, was stripped of its membership with immediate effect.

Iran, on December 15, accused the United States of orchestrating its removal from the women’s rights commission, saying the move was a result of its arch-foe's concerted efforts and that it lacked "legal justification". "This one-sided action of the US ... is an attempt to impose unilateral political demands and ignore electoral procedures in international institutions," foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said. "Removing a legal member of the commission is a political heresy which discredits this international organisation and also creates a unilateral procedure for future abuses of international institutions," he added.

The US-sponsored resolution was sparked by Iran’s ongoing brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters who took to the streets in September after the death of a 22-year-old woman taken into custody by the morality police. At least 488 people have been killed since the demonstrations began, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that’s been monitoring the protests, while another 18,200 people have been detained by authorities. The vote in the 54-member council known as ECOSOC to remove Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women for the remainder of its 2022-2026 term was 29-8 with 16 abstentions.

The text of the UN resolution, said the Iranian authorities, "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." The head of Iran's high council for human rights, Kazem Gharib Abadi, said the motive of the United States for supporting the resolution was to protect its own interests. The US "only pursues its inhumane and anti-human rights interests and goals" by issuing "false and hypocritical statements and comments" against Iran, he said in a Twitter post.

22-yr-old Mahsa Amini dies in custody of Iran's morality police

In September 2022, Mahsa Amini was on a visit to Tehran with her family when she was detained by the specialist police unit. After a while, she suffered a heart attack and was immediately taken to hospital with the cooperation of the emergency services, as per local media. However, Amini's family said that she was normal before the arrest with no pre-existing heart conditions. "Unfortunately, she died and her body was transferred to the medical examiner's office," reported ANI. The announcement came a day after Tehran police confirmed Amini had been detained with other women for "instruction" about the rules.

Following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, a debate has sparked against the "morality police" in the Islamic Republic and blown the issue globally. During the funeral ceremony of the victim, some protesters gathered in front of the governor’s building, chanting slogans, which prompted Iranian police to fire tear gas to disperse the protestors. Though the government or police said there were no injuries that took place in the protest, several videos of people facing grave injuries surfaced on social media platforms.