Women leaders call for Iran’s expulsion from CSW

A group of women leaders has demanded the exclusion of Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

Preeminent world-famous women from more than 14 countries who are active in various political, economic, legal and artistic fields have published an open letter in the New York Times on Sunday condemning the Iranian regime's record of violating women's rights, expressing their solidarity with Iranian women after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini and demanding Tehran’s immediate removal from CSW, according to RTL Today. 

Signatories of the letter include Hillary Clinton, former US Secretary of State; Michelle Obama, former US First Lady; Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister;  Oprah Winfrey, media leader & philanthropist; Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and education activist; and Nadia Murad, human rights activist, Iran International reported. 

The open letter reads, “We condemn the brutal violence of security forces against peaceful protesters […] Earlier this year, to the dismay of women's rights advocates around the world, Iran began a four-year term on the UN's 45-member Commission on the Status of Women. This preeminent global body is exclusively dedicated to promoting gender equality and women's empowerment. The Islamic Republic of Iran's long–standing, systematic oppression of women should have disqualified them from election to the CSW,” RTL Today reported. 

It is worth mentioning that a wave of protests has been prevailing since the death of Amini after being arrested by the Iranian police and detained for not wearing a head covering in public. The letter comes as a step to denounce the violent acts by the Iranian security forces against protesters, especially women, according to Vital Voices. 

Iran International reported that the campaign has launched a petition, receiving more than 21,000 signatures within few days from its launch. It has also called for gender equality and women’s empowerment amid Iran’s severe oppression of women. 

The official campaign said, “Iran was shamefully elected to the UN Commission on the Status of Women – the UN’s top women’s rights body – for a four‑year term that began in March 2022,” RTL Today reported.

It is worth noting that Iran was officially accepted in CSW last March, and Tehran was previously a member of this committee once in 2010, according to Nabd.