The United Nations (UN) has been known to do some puzzling things in the past. Usually they conduct business in any manner they wish and answer to no one. Another example of that is happening right now in what has already been called one of the most illogical moves the UN has made in recent memory. With little more than a passing mention, the UN elected Iran to its Commission on the Status of women.
This is the same Iran that recently passed a law which could lead to women being imprisoned for having a suntan. The same Iran which has backed its clerics who stated that God would rain down fury on the planet as has been happening with earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because women are immodest. The same Iran which not only allows but requires that “immodest” women either be lashed or stoned to educate them while punishing them.
The Commission on the Status of Women is a panel of ten, meaning Iran will not be lost on the shuffle of dozens of voices in this position. Iran will be serving a term of four years at which point they may or may not seek another term. Iran recently gave up their bid for a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council which was thought to be a ridiculous reach they had no prayer of attaining. Why anyone thought it was a good idea to give Iran any oversight into gender equality and the advancement of women which is the sole purpose of the Commission on the Status of Women is puzzling.
The U.N. had to know this was going to draw criticism if anyone heard of it in advance. The Iranian bid for this seat was self characterized as a covert campaign. The U.N press release announcing it was a mere blurb buried, actually nearly hidden, some 2,000 words into the document. What is disturbing is that Iran received their seat by acclamation which means that there not only was no open vote, but that a vote was not requested by any of the member states which includes the United States.
What should have set off flares and red flags everywhere - as if any were needed - to signal this is a very bad idea, Iranian activists took it upon them self to start and circulate a petition opposing Iran’s inclusion on this committee as soon as just a rumor of the possibility leaked. If the people of your own nation are willing to go to those measures it would behoove others to pay attention. Better than a dozen human rights organizations immediately endorsed the petition as well.
Included in the text of the petition is the following statement describing how things currently are in Iran:
"women lack the ability to choose their husbands, have no independent right to education after marriage, no right to divorce, no right to child custody, have no protection from violent treatment in public spaces, are restricted by quotas for women's admission at universities, and are arrested, beaten, and imprisoned for peacefully seeking change of such laws."
The commission is supposed to monitor violations of women’s rights issues, so it is hard to believe that a nation who in the past year imprisoned the mothers of peaceful protesters as a deterrent could be on this commission. That has been written up already in Foreign Policy Magazine and it is hard to believe they have better intelligence gathering abilities that the entire U.N.
They have further charged women protesting or advocating for women’s equality with crimes ranging from simple disobedience to threatening national security. They have been subjected to torturous interrogation, beatings, sexual assault, and rape at the hands of prison guards. These are not supposed allegations, these have been documented and published and are available online to anyone who cares to read them.
This appointment without so much as a vote is disrespectful not only to all women of every nation, but every human being. The idea of giving Iran any say in any capacity over not just women’s rights, but human rights, is like giving Jeffery Dahmer a job in the kitchen. It is not only a bad idea, it goes to show that the U.N, has become a bloated inefficient bureaucracy that serves no purpose but serving itself.