Iran ousted from UN women’s rights panel

by Julia Shapero - 12/14/22 1:28 PM ET

Associated Press/Bilal Hussein
Syrian Lava Baker holds a headscarf and a placard during a protest against the death of Iranian Mahsa Amini in Iran, at Martyrs’ Square in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022. Protests have erupted across Iran in recent days after Amini, a 22-year-old woman, died while being held by the morality police for violating the country’s strictly enforced Islamic dress code. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

United Nations member states on Wednesday removed Iran from the organization’s women’s rights panel amid Tehran’s deadly crackdown on anti-government protesters.

The U.N. Economic and Social Council voted to remove Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women, with 29 member states voting in favor of the U.S.-drafted resolution. Another eight voted against the resolution and 16 abstained, according to Reuters.

“[The commission] cannot do its important work if it’s being undermined from within,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said at Wednesday’s vote. “Iran’s membership at this moment is an ugly stain on the commission’s credibility.”

Protests erupted throughout Iran in the wake of the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in mid-September. Amini died in police custody after being arrested by the “morality police” for incorrectly wearing her hijab.

Nearly 500 protesters have been killed and more than 18,400 have been arrested since the protests began, according to the nonprofit group Human Rights Activists in Iran. Tehran has also begun executing prisoners arrested in the protests, carrying out two deaths sentences within the last week.

“This vote is another sign of the growing international consensus on Iran and demands for accountability,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement.

“The United States is working with our allies and partners around the world to hold Iran accountable for the abuses it is committing against its own people, notably peaceful protesters, women and girls, and the violence it is enabling against the Ukrainian people,” he added.