Vice President Kamala Harris praised the “bravery” of women-led protests against the religious state on Wednesday and pledged that the US would strive to have Iran expelled from a UN panel on women’s rights.
According to Harris, Iran will be expelled from the UN Commission on the Status of Women, whose members are chosen to serve four-year terms.
The Vice President said in a statement: “Iran has demonstrated through its denial of women’s rights and brutal crackdown on its own people that it is unfit to serve on this Commission.”
“Iran’s very presence discredits the integrity of its membership and the work to advance its mandate,” she added.
Following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old who had been held by the notorious “morality police,” which imposes tight restrictions on women’s attire, on September 16, Iran is seeing some of the most massive demonstrations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
“To all of those protesting I say again, we see you and we hear you. I am inspired by your bravery, as are people around the world,” Harris said.
Following the protests, the United States and its allies in Europe placed a series of sanctions on Iran and attempted to help restore internet connection that had been halted by the authorities.
The Economic and Social Council of the UN, whose members are chosen by the General Assembly, selects the nations that make up the women’s commission.
Iran is governed by Shiite Muslim clerics, and their current mandate ends in 2026. The United States is in service until the following year.
Afghanistan is one of the other countries represented in the organisation, despite the fact that the Taliban, who retook control last year and forbade secondary education for girls, do not have a representative at the UN.
