Iran’s Election to UN Women’s Body Draws Outrage From Rights Activists

Iran’s election to the U.N.’s top women’s empowerment body despite having a poor record has drawn outrage from rights activists who criticized the Islamic republic’s treatment of women. The result of the secret ballot also has been met with silence from the U.S. 43 of the 54 nations in the U.N.’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) elected Iran to the Commission on the Status of Women for a four-year term beginning next year. The commission is the U.N.’s principal intergovernmental body dedicated to “the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.”

Iran received the smallest number of votes of the five nations elected to the body. Of the other four elected nations, China and Japan were already commission members while Lebanon and Pakistan will be new additions. Iran was not currently a member of the commission. Iran’s poor record on women’s rights was under fire at the world body earlier this year.

In his annual address to the U.N. Human Rights Council, U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Javaid Rehman, noted “some positive steps” for Iranian women and girls in education and in citizenship rights. But he also said, “egregious gender-based discrimination persists in law, practice and societal attitudes, disempowering women and girls from participating and contributing in society.”

Austria-based Iranian rights activist Sholeh Zamini denounced Iran’s election to the commission as “shameful.” She said Iran will be the only country in the 45-member commission to have not ratified the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. “Not only has Iran not done this, but it is acting quite systematically to violate women’s rights,” she said.

Other Iranian women’s rights activists expressed similar sentiments on social media. Hillel Neuer, the executive director of the Geneva-based group UN Watch, said in an online statement that while ECOSOC typically rubber-stamps regional groups’ nominations for the Commission on the Status of Women, the U.S. exercised its authority as an ECOSOC member to call for a vote.

“I commend the Biden administration for forcing the vote, but they should also speak out to condemn the obscene election of [Iranian Supreme Leader] Ayatollah Khamenei’s regime to a women’s rights body,” Neuer said.

Since only 11 of ECOSOC’s 54 members did not vote for Iran in Tuesday’s secret ballot, Neuer noted that at least four of the council’s 15 European Union (EU) and Western Group democracies voted in favor of Iran. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment on how the U.S. voted and what it thinks of votes by its allies. Neuer expressed disappointment in the U.S. “going silent” on the issue. “Those who believe in the founding values of the United Nations cannot be silent when they are subverted,” he wrote.

In the Biden administration’s first report on Iran’s human rights record published last month, the State Department highlighted multiple issues with women’s rights including a “lack of meaningful investigation of and accountability for violence against women” and “significant legal, religious, and cultural barriers to political participation” for women.

“I hope that the U.S. & EU states negotiating with the Iranian regime over its nuclear weapons program did not make a Faustian bargain to betray women in Iran who are subjugated, discriminated against in law and practice and criminalized if they sing, dance or show their hair,” Neuer said.

This is yet another display of the United Nations favoring Iran, even though they have blatant rights violations and constantly attacks Israel over every move that they make.

UN Opens Israeli War Crimes Probe, Calls For Embargo

The United Nations Human Rights Council voted 24-9 to launch an investigation against Israel for alleged war crimes, including during the recent war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and called for an arms embargo against the Jewish state. An additional 14 countries out of the 47-member body abstained. It marks the first time that the UNHRC created a permanent fact-finding mission with respect to any UN member state. Israel’s Foreign Ministry immediately stated that it had no intention of cooperating with the probe.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated: “Today’s shameful decision is yet another example of the UN Human Rights Council’s blatant anti-Israel obsession. Once again, an immoral automatic majority at the Council whitewashes a genocidal terrorist organization that deliberately targets Israeli civilians while turning Gaza’s civilians into human shields. This while depicting as the ‘guilty party’ a democracy acting legitimately to protect its citizens from thousands of indiscriminate rocket attacks. This travesty makes a mockery of international law and encourages terrorists worldwide.”

In the debate that preceded the vote, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet warned that Israeli actions may already constitute “war crimes.” The “commission of inquiry” would examine incidents that occurred both before and after April 13, 2021 within sovereign Israel, including Jerusalem, as well as in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The decision to call for such a probe was submitted by the Palestinian Authority and Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

The United States said it was “deeply unfortunate” that the vote occurred “while we and others have been working to uphold and strengthen the ceasefire, ensure humanitarian assistance to Gaza.” It’s Geneva mission added that creation of a probe “threatens to imperil the progress that has been made in recent weeks... We will continue to advocate for Israel to be treated fairly in the Human Rights Council.” Germany took issue with an “indefinite” commission of inquiry that would “far exceed” any past fact-finding probes.

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN in Geneva Meirav Eilon Shahar warned the council against making a moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas, noting that prior to the start of the Gaza war one of its leaders called to cut off the heads of Jews. “On May 7th, a senior Hamas leader, Fathi Hammad, said and I quote “cut off the heads of the Jews with knives.” Just three days later, Hamas launched an unprovoked, unjustified attack against the civilian population in Israel, while cynically hiding military infrastructure in the midst of Gaza’s civilian population. This constitutes a double war crime,” Eilon Shahar said. “We will make no apologies for defending our citizens. Israel has the capabilities to defend its people in accordance with international law and we will continue to do so,” she said. Earlier in the day, she said, those who support the Palestinians should condemn Hamas.

During the debate Bachelet agreed Hamas caused deaths and injuries in southern Israel and its “rockets are indiscriminate and fail to distinguish between military and civilian objects, and their use, thereby, constitutes a clear violation of international humanitarian law.” Such violations include Hamas launching rockets from civilian areas, she said. “However, the actions of one party do not absolve the other from its obligations under international law,” Bachelet explained, nor did she accuse Hamas of potential war crimes. This is yet another example of the United Nations blatant attacks on Israel while failure to hold other groups accountable.