Iran Expelled From The UN Women's Body, Ambassador Iravani: This Illegal Action Can Create Hazardous Preedents And Consequences

Protests against Mahsa Amini's death in Iran. (Wikimedia Commons/Darafsh)

JAKARTA - Iran was expelled from the UN women's group on Wednesday for policies that go against the rights of women and girls, following Tehran's crackdown on protests over the death of a young woman in detention, a move proposed by the United States, sparked a stern warning from Tehran's envoy.

The 54-member UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) adopted a resolution of the US draft to "clear Iran immediately from the Women's Status Commission (CSW) for the remainder of the 2022-2026 period."

In the vote, 29 members supported, eight opposed, including Russia and China, and 16 abstained members.

"This is a victory for Iranian revolutionarys who have faced weapons & bullets as they fight this gender apartheid country," Iranian journalists and US-based women's rights activists are still Alinejad on Twitter.

Meanwhile, US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield said, removing Iran was the right thing to do.

"This is very important for Iranian women," Thomas-Greenfield told Reuters after the vote.

"They received a strong message from the United Nations that we will support them and we will condemn Iran and we will not allow them to sit on the Women's Status Commission and continue to attack women in their own country," he explained.

Thomas-Greenfield said the vote was unprecedented and "we will not draw a line, we will continue to suppress human rights wherever they are violated. This is a core value for us."

Speaking before the vote, Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Amir Saeid Iravani called the US move illegal, describing Washington as a disruptor.

"This illegal act can also create dangerous precedents with broad consequences," said Iravani.

Iran along with 17 other countries and Palestine, in a letter to the ECOSOC on Monday urged members not to choose to avoid a "new trend to expel sovereign states and be legally elected from any international system body, if deemed uncomfortable."

Separately, UN's Director of the International Crisis Group Richard Gowan said several countries supporting Iran's removal were also personally concerned about creating precedents for exclusion.

"In fact, many countries are fed up with Iran's behavior will choose something lighter, such as temporarily suspending Iran from CSW," Gowan said.

"But the US effectively forced other members to queue by announcing the initiative with a slight warning," he said.

Thomas-Greenfield said there was consultation on the measure and if everyone could consider drafting a resolution then "we will still negotiate next year."

Iran has faced its biggest protests in years since September, when Iranian Kurdish woman 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died under the custody of a morality police who imposed strict dress codes.

Demonstrations have turned into a people's uprising by angry Iranians from all walks of life, which is one of the most significant legitimacy challenges for Shiite clerics since the 1979 Revolution. Meanwhile, Iran blamed its foreign enemies and their agents for the unrest.