Commotion: Iran Elected to UN Commission on Status of Women
The Claim
Iran was recently elected to the UN's Commission on the Status of Women.
News posted on
Emerging story
UN Watch, a non-governmental organization, based in Geneva, alleged that Iran was elected to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women for a four-year term long.
UN Watch and Iranian activists condemned Iran’s election onto the CSW in particular, calling it “a black day for women’s rights, and all human rights.”
Misbar’s Analysis
The United Nations Economic and Social Council voted through a secret ballot election to allow Iran to join the women's rights commission for the next four years. In other words, governments, through their delegations, directly elect the countries that make up this board by secret ballot. Regional groups play an important role in negotiations related to elections to the various UN bodies. Each regional group usually proposes the candidates from its region for a particular election, following the seats allocated to the local group.
There is no information on how each state voted individually because a secret ballot conducted elections.
The UN didn't name Iran on the board. Their vote was by member states to include them on the council.
Iran received 43 out of the 54 votes from the U.N.-member countries that attended the Economic and Social Council meeting.
Of the other four elected nations, China and Japan were already commission members, while Lebanon and Pakistan will be new additions. Iran received the smallest number of votes of the five nations elected to the body. Iran currently is not a member of the commission. Iran was previously selected by the UN Commission on Women (CSW) for a 4-year term in April 2010.
The news was only reported by UN Watch and the Jerusalem Post, neglecting much information and spreading hate speech against the UN and Iran.
However, the Media Bias Fact Check rated the UN Watch Right biased based on the information and political positions that favor the right and Mixed for factual reporting due to some poor sources and a failed fact check.
The secret ballot vote has left many demanding to know which governments gave their support to a country with a history of degrading women in society.
