Iran says US ‘in no position’ to advocate women’s rights after sham UN vote

Iran's deputy envoy to the United Nations hit out at the US-backed move to oust the country from the UN women's body saying Washington and its allies are in no position to advocate women's rights while supporting Israeli crimes against Palestinian women.

Zahra Ershadi made the remarks on Wednesday after Iran was ousted from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) following a draft proposal by the United States over what it claimed to be “policies contrary to the rights of women and girls” in the country.

The 54-member UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) adopted the 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."

Twenty-nine members of the ECOSOC voted in favor of Iran’s expulsion from the United Nations women's body, eight countries voted against and 16 abstained.

Shortly after the vote, Ershadi took the floor and condemned the US and certain countries for drafting the text, saying that Iran will remain committed to defending women's and girls’ rights despite being out of the UN body.

“The US and its allies are not in a position to call themselves women's rights defenders when they support the Israeli regime that blatantly violates the rights of Palestinian women and girls,” Ershadi noted.

Another deputy permanent representative of Iran to the United Nations condemned the politicization of women's rights by the US, UK, EU and Canada at the world body and said Iran’s removal was based on unfounded claims.

“In light of the fact that the US, EU, UK, Canada and some other countries continue to forge the reality, I would like to draw your attention to the systematic and systemic racial discrimination in these countries that impact a significant number of people, including women and girls of African American, Muslims, indigenous, be in workplace, courts, media, digital platforms or in their everyday life,” Iran’s deputy permanent representative said.

“As closest allies of the US are committing the gravest crimes in our recent history, they continue to stay on the safe side of this political show. Perhaps, this is high time for them to quit this futile show and deal faithfully with their dark human rights issues. They can never blare reality,” she added.

US motion to remove Iran from CSW 'illegal'

Before the vote, Iran's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Amir Saeed Iravani denounced as illegal the motion by the United States to terminate the membership of the Islamic Republic in the UN commission for women’s rights.

Stressing that the US draft resolution to remove Iran from the panel was based on unfounded claims and fabricated rationale, Iravani said the move undermines the rule of law while Washington is itself notorious for violating the Charter of the United Nations.

The Iranian diplomat also emphasized that the integrity of the UN would be threatened if the US-drafted resolution was ratified and Iran removed from the commission.

US itself violator of rights of Iranians

Earlier in the day, Kazem Gharibabadi, secretary of Iran's High Council for Human Rights and the Judiciary chief's deputy for international affairs censured the politicization of women’s rights and said the US, which claims to support the rights of Iranian women, girls, and people, is itself the main violator of the rights of the people of Iran.

“Countries that have turned human rights into a tool for their own interests are against the Islamic Republic of Iran and the country's independence,” Gharibabadi noted.

Iran’s top rights official also said American politicians enjoyed all kinds of support from former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's government during the imposed war in the 1980s, and in the recent riots, they mobilized all their resources against the Iranian nation.

“The enemies of Islamic Iran have once again shown that by waging a hybrid war and providing financial, political and intelligence support to rioters and terrorist groups, as well as by using all the media power through social and television networks in London and other countries, they cannot see the progress and authority of this country,” he added.

Protesters slam attempts to oust Iran from CSW

Meanwhile, a group of Iranian women (pictured below) staged a rally in front of the United Nations office in Tehran in protest at the political attempts to remove Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

Holding placards that read "Eliminate the US from CSW," and "The USA, the greatest women's rights violator," the protesters censured a Washington-proposed bid to remove the Islamic Republic from the UN women's rights body.

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