Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/TEHRAN: Diplomats have said that Iran appears set to be ousted from a UN women’s body on Wednesday for policies contrary to the rights of women and girls.
Still, several countries are expected to abstain from the vote requested by the United States. The 54 members of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) will vote on a US-drafted resolution to eliminate, with immediate effect, Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women for the remainder of its 2022-2026 term.
The 45 member of the Commission on the Status of Women meets annually and focuses on promoting gender equality and women empowerment. A US authority said they consistently saw growing support to remove Iran.
In a letter to ECOSOC reported on Monday, Iran, 17 other countries, and the Palestinians argued that a vote would undoubtedly create an unwelcome precedent that would ultimately prevent other Member States with different cultures, traditions, and customs from contributing to the activities of such Commissions.
The letter encourages the members to vote against the US move to avoid a new trend of expelling sovereign and rightfully-elected States from any given body of the global system if ever perceived as inconvenient. A detailed majority could be secured for imposing such maneuvers.
Only 5 of the signatories to the letter are currently ECOSOC members and able to vote on Wednesday. The Iranian government has blamed its foreign enemies and their agents for the unrest.
UN Rights Council
The Geneva-based UN Rights Council voted the previous month to appoint an independent investigation into Iran’s deadly repression of protests, passing the motion to the cheers of activists. Tehran accused Western states of using the council to target the Iranian government in an appalling and disgraceful move.
