US Vice President Kamala Harris announced on Wednesday (Nov 2) that the United States will attempt to expel Iran from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) over the government’s denial of women’s rights and violent suppression of protests.
Iran recently began a four-year term on the commission, which meets annually every March and seeks to promote gender equality and the expansion of women’s rights.
Harris issued a declaration saying the United States considers it inappropriate for any country that habitually abuses women’s and children’s rights to take part in any international or UN organisation concerned with defending these same rights.
The death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in police custody last month has sparked protests in Iran. The unrest has given rise to a popular uprising by Iranians of all stripes, the boldest of which has challenged the clerical leadership since the 1979 revolution.
Despite Blaming foreign enemies and their agents for the unrest, Iran is responsible for the demonstrations.
Harris said Iran’s denial of women’s rights and its brutal crackdown on its people have proved it unfit to serve on the Commission.
Iran has accused the United States and its allies of exploiting the UN platform ‘to further their own political interests,’ and has implored other nations to shun the summit.
Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, said in a letter to UN member states that the US ‘s ‘true and genuine’ concern for human rights in Iran or elsewhere is non-existent.
Iran’s representation at the United Nations was not immediately able to comment on the US attempt to expel it from the CSW.
