Change.org Petition: Remove Islamic Republic of Iran from the UN's Commission of Status on Women

Remove Islamic Republic of Iran from the UN’s Commission of Status on Women 7,728 have signed Mahshid Bozorgnia’s petition. Let’s get to 10,000!

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Dear CSW leadership and members, Seeing the Islamic Republic of Iran listed as a member of the United Nations "Commission on the Status of Women" (CSW) is not only surprising but deeply troubling and it makes one question the validity of the United Nations.  As the commission is indubitably aware, on September 16, the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman from the province of Kurdistan in the custody of “ Gasht Ersahd (Guidance police), ignited peaceful protests all around the country, which the Iranian regime has responded to with violence, having killed hundreds of protestors and injured even more. The bravery of Iran’s youth in continuing to fight has moved the world, inspiring some of the world’s most significant and influential figures from all fields to speak up in support of Iranian women’s rights. As the resiliency of the Iranian people remains unwavering, the regime’s brutality becomes more unhinged and fatal. On October 2, the regime killed and arrested university students participating in a peaceful sit-in. This human rights crisis has provoked Amnesty International to demand the UN Human Rights Council to act urgently, creating a petition to garner support for international support in ending this increasingly dire situation.  Under these circumstances, the UN CSW’s inaction at this point in the crisis is incomprehensible. In order to gain some understanding of this deafening silence  of CSW, we have a few questions for its leadership and members: 1-Does the CSW believe that the Iranian government is fit to serve in a Commission that claims to be “the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women”? Have the other members of the Commission read the constitution of the Islamic Republic, which is packed with discriminatory provisions and statutes, making women half the person of a man in the eyes of the law and granting them half the rights of men? For example:  a)Women receive half of what men inherit regardless of the specifications of the deceased b)Testimonial or witness statements provided to the courts or law enforcement by women are valued at half of that of a man’s. c)Women do not have agency over the way they present themselves in public or in spaces with men present, according to the same dress codes that justified Mahsa’s murder.  d)Women are not permitted to ride bicycles, sing in public or become professional singers. They are also not allowed to serve as judges or run for president.  e)Women do not have the right to seek divorce unless the man is considered clinically insane or struggling with addiction.  f)The indemnity provided in the case of the death of a woman is half of a man’s. 2-Is the massacre of peaceful protestors that includes the children, in line with the values and mission of this commission?  3-Does the Iranian government’s continued arrest and battering of thousands of protestors who are fighting for the same rights that are the basis of the existence of this commission, protestors who include the very women that this commission reportedly aims to protect, qualify them for a seat on this commission? 4-Is the state-ordered trapping students in their own university in order to kill, wound, and forcibly separate them from their families consistent with the provisions of the regulations of this commission? We, the people of the world, request the CSW to summon the commission’s Iranian representative and hold them accountable for crimes against women and terminate the Islamic Republic’s membership from the commission to not only show their solidarity with Iranians but reaffirm their commitment to the issue their commission would not exist without. Most importantly, the United Nations and all its bodies must do their job of holding world leaders accountable and making peace in times of injustice.

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