A U.S.-led effort to push Iran off a United Nations panel that promotes women’s rights succeeded on Wednesday, the latest move in a broader Western campaign to punish Iran for its crackdown on widespread protests.
The resolution to oust Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women passed with 29 votes in favor and eight against. It is overall a win for the Biden administration against a long-time adversary and the latest international embarrassment for Iran’s Islamist regime as it has faces an extraordinary challenge to its rule.
Yet of the 54 countries eligible to vote, at least 16 abstained — a sign of the wariness about setting a precedent of theU.S. dictating who’s deserving of U.N. panel memberships. Some countries had also questioned why Iran was singled out when other past and present panel members have spotty records on women’s rights.
Iran received vocal support from other U.S. adversaries such as Russia and China, some of which noted that there were no formal procedures to push Iran off the commission. But traditional American allies such as Canada and the United Kingdom backed the effort, saying Iran’s membership undermined the credibility of the commission.
Abstainers included countries such as India, the Solomon Islands and Indonesia. Many did not make public statements during the debate.
The vote was held by the U.N.’s Economic and Social Council, which oversees the women’s rights commission. The commission was established in 1946, and its past activities include laying the groundwork for a landmark treaty that has served as an international bill of rights for women. It also urges countries to update their legal frameworks to provide equal rights for women.
Wednesday’s vote followed a campaign by women’s rights activists, including many in the Iranian diaspora, to get Iran off the commission as it has tried to suppress protests. Hundreds have been killed in the crackdown. Iran also has begun executing protesters as part of its attempt to end the demonstrations, which have often been led by young people and women.
Senior U.S. officials hailed the vote’s result.
“The recent horrifying executions in Tehran only strengthen our resolve to expand this growing consensus and pursue all possible mechanisms of accountability against the Iranian regime and its officials responsible for these atrocities,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, echoed a prominent slogan used by Iranian protesters as she called for other countries to back the resolution. “Let’s do this for women, for life and for freedom,” she said.
Iran protested the resolution vigorously, calling it “illegal” and describing the United States as “a bullying member notorious for disobeying the U.N. Charter and international law.” Iran had joined the panel in March and was supposed to serve a four-year term.
Iranians have been protesting across their country since mid-September after the death of a young woman who had been detained by Iran’s morality police for allegedly not properly covering up.
Many of the protesters are demanding an end to the regime that has ruled Iran for more than 40 years. And many of the demonstrators are young, spelling future trouble for the aging Muslim clerics who lead the regime.
Russia tried to derail Wednesday’s vote by requesting a legal opinion on the process, but other members of the body stymied that effort.
