Iran booted from UN commission

… the Commission is the premier U.N. body for promoting gender equality and empowering women. … It cannot do its important work if it is being undermined from within.

United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, as Iran was voted off the UN’s “Commission on the Status of Women.”

Why It Matters: The move shows the impact of recent protests *inside* Iran having an impact *outside* the country's borders. Iran's treatment of women was arguably not conducive to the commission before the protests, but this vote is unprecedented.

Context: The Iranian people have protested against the Islamic Republic government consistently for the last several months for many reasons, including strict policies limiting the freedom of women and the death of a woman, Mahsa Amini, in government custody after being detained by the "morality police" for an alleged dress code violation.

Thomas-Greenfield told Reuters: "It's hugely important for the women of Iran. They got a strong message from the United Nations that we will support them and we will condemn Iran and we will not let them sit on the Commission for the Status of Women and continue to attack women in their own country."

Iran's response: "The U.S. request is entirely illegal as the Council members are fully aware that there is no precedent in the Council's practice of terminating an elected member's participation in a functional Commission for any alleged reason, nor it is supported by the Council's rule of procedures."

The commission consists of 45 countries (here's the list that still includes Iran) – it is the "principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women."

Iran is booted from U.N.'s Commission on the Status of Women (CBS News)