The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on Wednesday adopted a resolution on the removal of Iran's membership in the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
The development comes in the wake of the country’s brutal crackdown on protests calling for justice for Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman who died in police custody in September.
The CSW meets annually in March at UN Headquarters in New York and is described as the biggest gathering of gender equality advocates in the world.
The draft resolution, introduced by the US, obtained 29 votes "in favor" while eight ECOSOC members including China and Russia voted against it and 16 countries abstained.
The resolution voices concern over Iran "administering policies flagrantly contrary to the human rights of women and girls and to the mandate of the Commission on the Status of Women," and "decides to remove with immediate effect" Iran from membership in the commission for the remainder of its 2022-2026 term.
Speaking ahead of the vote, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield called the CSWOpens in new window the premiere UN body for promoting gender equality and empowering women.
“It cannot do its important work if it is being undermined from within,” she said. “Iran’s membership at this moment is an ugly stain on the Commission’s credibility.”
The Ambassador commended Iranian activists, both in the room and around the world, for their courage, foresight, sacrifices, and leadership.
She recalled that Mahsa Amini was accosted by the “morality police” in Iran’s capital, Tehran, on 13 September, who accused her of wearing her headscarf improperly.
The young woman was reportedly beaten on the way to custody. She fell into a coma and died three days later.
“We know she was killed for the crime of being a woman. And for too long, for too often, this was not such an unusual thing in Iran,” said Ms. Thomas-Greenfield.
The Commission on the Status of Women is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women established in June 1946.
