At least four out of the 15 EU and Western group democracies at the UN’s Economic and Social Council voted to elect Iran to the Commission on the Status of Women on Tuesday, according to a calculation by the independent non-governmental organization UN Watch, which urged the countries to reveal their votes.
The democracies who may have voted in the April 20, 2021 secret ballot for Iran’s misogynistic regime include Australia, Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Latvia, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
UN Watch called on lawmakers from the 15 EU and other democracies to demand that their governments reveal how they voted.
Although the voting was secret, the fact that Iran’s regime won 43 votes means that only 11 ECOCOC members did not vote for Iran. Therefore, at least four out of the 15 Western democracies did vote for Iran, and possibly more because the 11 countries that did not vote for Iran could be any of the 54 member states of ECOSOC.
In 2017, after a similar secret ballot for the same UN women’s rights commission, a UN Watch campaign led to Belgium’s admission that it voted to elect Saudi Arabia, and to the revelation that the the Belgian government made sure to tell the Saudis that they voted for them.
🇳🇱 Dutch lawmakers formally demanded their government answer if it voted to elect Iran to the UN women's rights commission. https://t.co/CM7ILVxwW7
In the past, the Netherlands openly justified voting Iran onto a UN women's rights committee. So they may well have done it. https://t.co/djzhPKhQ2u pic.twitter.com/tAgWABHUTW
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) April 26, 2021
.@BILD asked the German Foreign Office on Thursday whether 🇩🇪 Germany was one of the countries that voted for the Islamic Republic of Iran to join the U.N. Women's Rights Commission. “The request has so far remained unanswered.“https://t.co/EPqaV0GsuK
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) April 25, 2021
Norway won't say if voted Iran onto UN Women's Rights Commission.
"Voting in UN elections is not public. This is in line with the procedural rule on secret ballot, and established practice among UN member states. Iran undoubtedly has major challenges…" https://t.co/8lN3gTLQTQ
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) April 22, 2021
🇳🇱 Dutch foreign ministry "cannot comment" on whether the Netherlands was among the EU & Western group democracies that shamefully voted in secret ballot to elect the Iranian regime to the UN Commission on Women's Rights.
Report by @coenhermenet @refdag:https://t.co/8IEQhW2vhF
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) April 23, 2021
I know some of you don't believe me that the U.N. actually elected the Islamic Republic of Iran yesterday to its top women's rights body, so here's the video: https://t.co/43ckGoMrcR pic.twitter.com/zkuzME9R6N
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) April 21, 2021
So despite the secret ballot, as Iran won 43 votes, we know 4 EU & Western Group members voted to put Iran's misogynistic regime on the UN women's rights commission.
All MPs must demand to know how their country voted.
In 2017, Belgium admitted its vote:https://t.co/iMnYRl0mrc
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) April 22, 2021
Iran's vote at the U.N. women's rights commission should count for half, because that's how they value women. https://t.co/TokgZK29g8
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) April 26, 2021
A regime that treats women as half a human being was elected to the highest women's rights body of the United Nations.
At least 4 EU & Western democracies voted for Iran.
Today, I call on representatives of 🇩🇪🇫🇷🇬🇧🇪🇸🇮🇹🇩🇰🇳🇱🇸🇪🇫🇮🇮🇪🇪🇺&🇧🇪 to condemn this outrage. Why are they silent? https://t.co/OBaWj63QMy pic.twitter.com/HX2LFS00La
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) April 27, 2021
Yesterday in this event in Swedish parliament along with the UN special rapporteur, I condemned the UN’s election of Islamic Republic of Iran to its commission on the status of women.
Please listen & share the message of Iranian women’s rights activists with your government. pic.twitter.com/VcXGFfoTWy— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) April 23, 2021