The news was received coldly.
Several new members, including Iran and Pakistan, were elected on Tuesday to join the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) - an intergovernmental body
"dedicated exclusively to
the promotion of gender equality and gender equality. 'empowerment of women
', it writes on the UN website.
Read also: Sadaf Khadem, on behalf of the women of Iran
The CSW is a functional commission of 45 members belonging to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and was created in 1946. At an ECOSOC session on Tuesday, 12 new members were elected to join the CSW in 2022 and for a four-year term.
Seven members were nominated by acclamation: Cape Verde, Egypt, Mauritania and Tunisia (in the African States category);
Costa Rica, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago (for Latin American and Caribbean States).
For the Asia-Pacific states, however, a secret ballot was necessary, following which China, Iran, Japan, Lebanon and Pakistan were elected for a four-year term.
"Surrealist"
Iran's election angered and misunderstood many human rights activists.
“It's surreal.
A regime that treats women like second-class citizens, jails them for not wearing the compulsory hijab, forbids them to sing, bans them from stadiums and does not let them travel abroad without the permission of their husbands is elected to the highest UN body for women's rights
,
”
denounced Masih Alinejad, Iranian journalist and women's rights activist.
Kylie Moore-Gilbert, an Australian-British scholar and expert in Islamic studies, imprisoned in Iran from 2018 to 2020 on charges of espionage, also testified to her incomprehension in the face of this vote on social networks.
“Iran's persecution of women is blatant and systematic, both in law and in practice. The UN Secretary-General himself has pointed out the 'persistent discrimination against women and girls' in Iran, ”
also protested Hillel Neuer, lawyer, human rights activist and head of “UN Watch”, a non-governmental organization based in Geneva. UN Watch has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Affiliated with the American Jewish Committee, the NGO was however criticized for its lack of neutrality and its proximity to Israel.
Hillel Neuer also posted the video of the vote on social media during the ECOSOC session.
In an article published on its site, UN Watch indicates
"that at least four of the fifteen members of the group of 'western democracies' voted to integrate Iran".
In this group are notably present France, the United States, Germany, Canada and the United Kingdom.
"Firmly entrenched discrimination"
In its annual report on Iran for 2020, published in April, Amnesty International noted in particular that
“women still face solidly entrenched discrimination in law, particularly in relation to marriage, divorce, employment, succession and access to political functions ”
.
“Domestic violence, marital rape, forced or early marriage and other forms of gender-based violence against women and girls were not punishable by criminal law and remained widespread,”
added the NGO denouncing in addition a
"morals police and militias"
which
"Continued to subject millions of women and girls to daily harassment and brutality amounting to torture or other ill-treatment."
Already in 2017, the arrival of Saudi Arabia as a member of the Commission until 2022 had caused a stir.
Because until 2015, women still could not vote in the Gulf monarchy and it is only since 2018 that they can drive.
At the time, the United Nations Development Program Administrator and former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said it was
"important to support those in this country who are striving to change. things for women.
Things are changing, but slowly ”.