The United Nations announced on March 13 that Iran will get a seat on the U.N. women’s rights committee which judges complaints alleging violations of women’s rights.
No joke: the Islamic Republic of #Iran was just appointed to the @UN_Women's rights committee that judges complaints of women's rights violations.
Yes, a day after the regime sentenced women's rights lawyer Nasrin Sotudeh to 38 years prison & 148 lashes. https://t.co/PPe20erKgV pic.twitter.com/c6bebPqy8j
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) March 13, 2019
The appointment of Iran, a regime that tortures women’s rights defenders, and which arrests women who fail to comply with its misogynystic forced hijab law, was gaveled by Ireland’s Geraldine Byrne Nason, Chair of the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
Ireland came under heavy criticism from members of its parliament in 2017 for voting to elect Saudi Arabia to the commission.
Dear Amb. Byrne Nason @irishmissionun:
If you care about women's rights, why did you just now oversee the election of Iran's misogynystic regime to the @UN_Women's rights committee that judges complaints of women's rights violations? Isn't it asking the fox to guard the chickens? pic.twitter.com/iRPvwgDnna— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) March 14, 2019
According to the UN, as a member of UN Women’s Working Group on Communications, Iran will be expected to judge the following categories of allegations of women’s rights violations from women in countries around the world:
- Arbitrary arrests of women
- Deaths and torture of women in custody
- Forced disappearances or abductions of women
- Discriminatory application of punishments in law based on sex, including corporal and capital punishment
- Violation of the rights of women human rights defenders to freedom of expression and assembly
- Threats or pressure exerted on women not to complain or to withdraw complaints
- Impunity for violations of the human rights of women
- Stereotypical attitudes towards the role and responsibilities of women
- Domestic violence
- Forced marriage and marital rape
- Virginity testing
- Contemporary forms of slavery, including trafficking in women and girls
- Sexual harassment of women in the workplace
- Unfair employment practices based on sex, including unequal pay
- Lack of due diligence by States to adequately investigate, prosecute and punish perpetrators of violence against women
- Discrimination against women under immigration and nationality laws
- Violations of the rights of women to own and inherit property
- Discrimination against women in accessing international humanitarian aid
- Forcible evictions of women in conflict situations
The appointment of Iran was gaveled by Ireland’s Geraldine Byrne Nason, Chair of the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
