The UN’s Economic and Social Council has elected Iran to a 4-year term leading the Commission on the Status of Women (CSR), a group which describes itself as “the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women”, and claims it is “instrumental in promoting women’s rights”. An inspired choice then, given Iran jails its own citizens for speaking out on the subject, and domestic violence is yet to be criminalised. 

Perhaps the most baffling thing about this is that, as human rights group UN Watch points out, at least four of the fifteen Western democracies on the Council would have voted for Iran. That’s a list that includes Australia, Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Latvia, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, the UK, and the US. Naturally, the ballots are kept secret…

The UN’s own Secretary-General even released a report last year investigating Iran’s record on human rights, writing:

“The overall situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran remains of serious concern, owing to persistent and gross human rights violations […]The application of the death penalty, including for child offenders, remains high […] OHCHR also received reports of torture and large-scale arbitrary detention, as well as persistent discrimination against women, girls and minorities.”

For a long time there has been talk of forming an alternative Union of Free Democracies from all corners of the world as a forum. The sooner the better…