Written by Gadi Adelman Monday, 03 May 2010 05:33
The United Nations elects misogynist Iran to The Commission on the Status of Women, which is "dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women."
In October, 1997, the United Nations published a report titled “SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN.” Within this report was the following:
“Paragraph 21 - In his last interim report to the General Assembly (A/52/742, paras. 31-34), the Special Representative focused on the use of stoning in the Islamic Republic. Since then, it has been brought to his attention that, based on press accounts, the figures used by the Special Representative in that earlier report understate the real number of deaths and secondly, that many of the stonings have in fact taken place in larger cities including Tehran, Hamedan, Isfahan and Kermanshah. It is also asserted that all such punishments have to be endorsed by the Supreme Court and that, accordingly, the incidents concerned are not random acts of excess. The Special Representative declares his condemnation of such punishment.”
The UN has issued several resolutions expressing concern at the violations of human rights by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, including resolution 50/188.
So, how is it that, Iran, a theocratic state in which stoning is law and lashings are required for women judged "immodest", has now been elected to the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women, giving them a four-year seat on the influential human rights body?
According to a report by Joseph Abrams of FOX News, “Iran, along with representatives from 10 other nations, was "elected by acclamation," meaning that no open vote was requested or required by any member states — including the United States.”Interestingly, also according to the report, “The U.S. Mission to the U.N. did not return requests for comment on whether it actively opposed elevating Iran to the women's commission.”
The pictures above are before and after photos of Neda Agha-Soltan. For those who may not know or remember, she was murdered at the age of 27 by Iranian Government forces on June 20, 2009, during the 2009 Iranian election protests. Her death drew international attention and was captured on video by bystanders and then broadcast over the Internet. Unlike the “mainstream media” which chose never to show the video in its entirety, I have linked it here so you can see what the UN has allowed on the “Commission on the Status of Women” human rights board.
Let’s just look at some facts about the treatment of women by Iran, the newest member of the Commission on the Status of Women, according to the Iran-e Azad website.
“Women’s rights advocates have been beaten, harassed and persecuted for exercising their right to assembly, association and expression: for peaceful demonstrations; for collecting signatures on behalf of the “Million Signatures Campaign” to remove legal discrimination against women in Iran’s legal codes and system; for writing and publishing articles; for convening meetings; and for traveling for the purpose of having contact with their peers abroad.
“These groups found common cause advocating for changes in a legal system in which discrimination against women is deeply embedded. They began to campaign for equal rights between women and men in marriage; equal compensation for injuries and accidental death; equal inheritance rights; for prosecuting perpetrators of honor killings; for equal access to and treatment in courts of law; and against death sentences by stoning in cases of adultery.”
People involved in the One Million Signatures Campaign are subject to:
Imprisonment for Collecting Signatures;
Imprisonment for Writing Articles;
Imprisonment for Convening Meetings;
Lack of Freedom to Assemble for Campaign Activities;
Travel Bans Issued for Members of the Campaign
One might stop and ask why the women in Iran attempted to put together a petition to stop Iran from becoming part of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. This effort, of course, went nowhere since they were all either arrested or threatened with arrest for protesting Iran’s diabolical appointment. Iranian women are outraged over this: does this not say something to the obtuse elites at the UN?
Just this past Thursday, the Tehran chief of police Brig. Gen. Hossien Sajedinia warned that all women having a tan will be arrested and imprisoned because this violates the "spirit of Islamic law." He said that the “Iranian public expects the police to act firmly and swiftly to any social misbehavior caused by women, and men, particularly those who defy the Islamic values.” He cited some areas in northern Tehran where suntanned women and young girls look like walking mannequins.
"We are not going to tolerate this situation and will first warn those found in this manner and then arrest and imprison them," Sajedinia said.
This grotesque abuse of human rights is what is being allowed to have a seat on a commission for women’s rights at the U.N. According to the home page of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women website, “The Commission on the Status of Women is dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women.” Really? Where would that be? Because it certainly does not reside in Iran.
The legal age a female must be to marry in Iran is nine. That’s nine years old, as in pre-teen. When Iran passed Islamic Sharia law, the first country in the world to conform to it, the U.S. and the rest of the world sat back and said nothing. Why should we care, after all, they said without qualms, it’s just Iran. Once again, I have to ask, where are all the women’s rights groups? As I explained in my article “Call PETA, No One Else is Doing Anything!” Sharia law allows the following:
Obligatory female genital castration;
Requirement of women to obtain permission from husbands for daily freedoms, such as leaving the house unescorted by a male family member;
Beating of disobedient women and girls;
Compulsory acceptance of polygamy and forced child marriages;
Requirement of the testimony of four male witnesses to prove rape;
Stoning to death of adulteresses
There is no lack of reports on the way Iran mistreats women. Just this past Tuesday, Foreign Policy Magazine published an article in which three prominent democracy and human rights activists wrote, "In the past year, it has arrested and jailed mothers of peaceful civil rights protesters. It has charged women who were seeking equality in the social sphere — as wives, daughters and mothers — with threatening national security, subjecting many to hours of harrowing interrogation. Its prison guards have beaten, tortured, sexually assaulted and raped female and male civil rights protesters.”
The U.S. pays for 26 percent of the United Nations budget, more than any other member nation. The UN budget for 2010 is close to $15 billion. But of course paying more than any other nation, the U.S. did not even utter a word in condemnation to this abomination. There are no words in the English language to adequately describe the stupidity and cowardice of this situation.
The UN has always been doing things that I found to be deplorable. While growing up in Israel we used to joke that the UN stood for “Unreliable.” I remember all too well in November, 1975, the U.N. voted on and passed Resolution 3379 that declared Zionism to be the same as Racism, yet it was after an anti-UN rally I attended in Jerusalem that I survived a terrorist bombing. I guess it should come as no surprise that such a sham organization as this would embrace the Islamic Republic of Iran as a member of the Commission on the Status of Women.
Maybe next year President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will receive the Nobel Peace Prize after being elected by acclamation at the UN as King of the World. All this, while our administration sits idly by.
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