United Nations Elects IRAN To Comission On The Status Of Women!

[Obama 2012 1,714]

NEW YORK — Without fanfare, the United Nations this week elected Iran to its Commission on the Status of Women, handing a four-year seat on the influential human rights body to a theocratic state in which stoning is enshrined in law and lashings are required for women judged "immodest."

Just days after Iran abandoned a high-profile bid for a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council, it began a covert campaign to claim a seat on the Commission on the Status of Women, which is "dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women," according to its website.

Buried 2,000 words deep in a U.N. press release distributed Wednesday on the filling of "vacancies in subsidiary bodies," was the stark announcement: 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.

The U.S. currently holds one of the 45 seats on the body, though the position is set to expire in 2012.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/04/29/elects-iran-commission-womens-rights/

[Peikko 1,575]

Fox broad brush on issues again?

Link

Perhaps they simply want to encourage women like this?

We (a group of Iranian feminists and women’s rights activists) demand an end to state-led violence and repression, as well as the immediate release of all political detainees in Iran. We invite all women’s rights defenders, activists, organisations, and networks worldwide to demonstrate their solidarity with the Iranian women’s movement and the broader movement for democracy in Iran by organising initiatives under the slogan “freedom and gender equality in Iran” throughout March 2010.

Over the past thirty years, the Iranian women’s movement has been at the forefront of the struggle for freedom and equality in Iran. Gender discrimination intersects with other forms of subordination – whether based on class, ethnicity, political orientation, religion, and so on. Thus, the peaceful resistance of women and men in defence of gender equality in all social spheres – legal, political, cultural, economical, etc. – has profoundly impacted the Iranian movement for democracy. Iranian women have long demanded freedom and gender equality; they have employed both individual and group strategies, initiated various campaigns, and faced insults, threats, arrests and imprisonment in the process. Many of these women are currently in prison.

Over the past eight months, the protest movement that emerged following the disputed presidential elections has been suppressed by mounting violence. Physical and psychological violence – through arrest, torture, rape, extended imprisonment, and even execution – has been exercised against civil and political activists in Iran. As of now, numerous women activists from various movements – women’s, workers, students, civil, and political – are detained and/or have received heavy sentences. The list of detainees grows everyday.

Or, perhaps you think that having an Iranian representative will sway the council to adopt more current Iranian thinking on women's issues?

I don't know, I'm not an expert on this matter, but I can at least imagine scenarios where this is neither bad news for women's issues or the UN but hey, if Fox thinks it's funny, it must be, right?

[PhiLandShiR 18]

What better way to show them how the rest of the world thinks?

We will never convince them its not just a US plot if they can't discover things on their own.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

[JohnSmith2007 353]

Somehow I knew this would end up about Fox News and not the story. The FLWN just love to bash Fox.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Somehow I knew this would end up about Fox News and not the story. The FLWN just love to bash Fox.

They're not a real news organization. They're a Right Wing propaganda machine. That's a fact.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

No surprise to me that Useless Numpties would be inapt at selection!