On Wednesday, December 14, the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) conducted voting to oust Iran from its Commission on Status of Women (CSW).
This comes after the 54-member ECOSOC adopted a US-drafted resolution that called for the removal of Iran with “immediate effect”. This is the first time that a member country of the CSW has been removed.
This resolution was co-sponsored by Australia, Albania, Canada, Guatemala, Israel, Liberia, New Zealand, North Macedonia, and the UK and Northern Ireland.
Before the voting, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield took to Twitter and said that removing Iran from CSW is the “right thing to do at the right time.”
We must remove Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women.
— Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield (@USAmbUN) December 14, 2022
This is the right thing to do at the right time.
Ahead of the vote, Greenfield called Iran’s membership in the premiere UN body an “ugly stain on Commission’s credibility.” She added, “CSW 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.”
Notably, the resolution received 29 votes in favour, 8 including Russia and China against it, while 16 countries abstained from voting, including India.
After the vote, Greenfield tweeted, “UN member states just voted to remove Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women. Iranian women and activists called on us to do this and today we got it done.”
NEWS: UN Member States just voted to remove Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women.
— Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield (@USAmbUN) December 14, 2022
Iranian women and activists called on us to do this – and today, we got it done.
Notably, Iran started a four-year term on the commission in April this year and became a member of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (Ecosoc) in 2016 after obtaining the necessary votes at the United Nations General Assembly.
The US resolution against Iran came in response to Iran’s brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters who took to the streets in September following the death of a 22-year-old girl named Mahsa Amini detained by Iran’s morality police.
Ever since the protests began, hundreds have been killed, thousands detained and 11 death sentences ruled so far. Women all over the world have expressed their solidarity with Iranian women. Iran’s authoritarian regime has now started executing protestors publicly. In recent weeks, two such execution cases have been reported. One Mohsin Shekari was executed last week while another Majidreza Rahnavard was hanged in Mashhad for ‘waging war against Allah.’
Iran condemns resolution
Before the vote, Iran’s ambassador, Amir Saeid Jalil Iravani, stated that the country “categorically rejected and strongly condemned” the resolution’s draft. Iravani accused the US of using its “longstanding hostility toward the Iranian people” to remove Iran from the commission under the guise of human rights. He also accused the US of attempting to topple Iran’s government.
