Here is why this is so evil and absurd, from the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center:
The real issue is that hijab—or proper Islamic dress—is still compulsory for women in Iran’s streets and public places and failure to cover accordingly can result in imprisonment or a hefty fine.
The real issue is that in today’s Iran divorce is a husband’s unilateral right but if a woman seeks to divorce her husband she must prove he has either abandoned her or is mentally ill, abusive, or a drug addict.
The real issue is that the Islamic Republic’s child custody laws favour the father, inheritance and ownership laws overwhelmingly favor men over women heirs, and since 1979 women have been barred from being judges.
The real issue is that a husband is allowed to kill his wife and her lover if he catches them in the heat of passion, whereas no such exemption from a murder charge exists for a wife should she catch her husband in a similarly compromised position.
The real issue is that convictions and punishments for sex crimes such as adultery are applieddisproportionately to women in Iran’s criminal courts.
The real issue is that despite the propensity of Iran’s courts to hold women accountable for sex crimes and other moral offenses, when it comes to the evidence that will be used against them to secure such convictions, the testimony of a woman is worth half of that of a man’s.
That list one is strictly Qur’anic: “And bring to witness two witnesses from among your men. And if there are not two men [available], then a man and two women from those whom you accept as witnesses – so that if one of the women errs, then the other can remind her.” (2:282) The rest is based on Sharia principles as well.
“U.S. Doesn’t Object, So Iran Gets a Seat on U.N. Women’s Rights Body,” by Patrick Goodenough, CNS News, April 24, 2014 (thanks to Twostellas):
(CNSNews.com) – The Obama administration on Wednesday criticized Iran’s election to the U.N.’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) – but neither the U.S. nor any other delegation objected when given the opportunity to do so, thus allowing Iran to get the seat “by acclamation.”
Iran will now serve on the CSW, a body dealing with gender equality and the advancement of women, for another four-year term, having already been a member since 2011.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power took to Twitter to express her views: “Yet again Iran unopposed & was ‘elected’ to Commission on Status of Women. Given record on women’s & human rights, this is an outrage.”
But Richard Grenell, who served as spokesman for four U.S. ambassadors to the U.N. during the George W. Bush administration and is a close observer of the world body, was unimpressed with her reaction.
“Ambassador Power can tweet her outrage after the fact all she wants,” he said. “She should have been in the room for the vote and demanded a secret ballot rather than allow an automatic acclamation by her silence.”
CSW members are elected by the 54-member U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).There were 11 vacancies to fill on the CSW, and each of the five regional groups put forward “closed slates” – the same number of candidates as there were vacancies available for that group.
Even so, had just one ECOSOC member objected to Iran’s candidacy, a secret ballot vote would then have been called. And had Iran not received the required minimum 28 votes, that would have allowed another member state from Iran’s regional group, Asia, to step in as an alternative.
Yet neither the U.S. nor any other member of ECOSOC objected. Other democracies on the council include 13 European nations, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and India.
A webcast of the ECOSOC session shows just how the process unfolded.
First, the meeting secretary read out the names of the 11 countries put forward by their respective regional groups for the 11 available seats – Iran, Mongolia (Asia); Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Malawi (Africa); Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina (Eastern Europe); Colombia (Latin America and Caribbean); and Belgium, Liechtenstein and Spain (Western European and others).
Then ECOSOC’s president, Oh Joon of South Korea, said, “Since the number of candidates from all regional groups is equal to the number of vacancies, may I take it that the council wishes to elect the proposed candidates by acclamation?”
He looked around, then hearing no protestations, continued, “I hear no objection. It is so decided.”
The entire process took 103 seconds.
A few minutes after the CSW vote, a similar exercise saw ECOSOC hand Iran a seat on a body that oversees accreditation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This enables Iran to attend and express their views at meetings of various U.N. bodies, including the Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva.
Again, no ECOSOC member raised objection to any of the 19 countries nominated for the 19 vacancies, and again the chair used identical language to declare the outcome:
“Since the number of candidates from all regional groups is equal to the number of vacancies, may I take it that the council wishes to elect the proposed candidates by acclamation? I hear no objection. It is so decided.”…
