TEHRAN- The vice president of Iran has urged that the “unjust decision” to exclude the Islamic Republic from the 45-nation Commission on the Status of Women should be addressed by the UN.

The U.S. started pushing to kick Iran out of the UN Economic and Social Council’s (ECOSOC) women’s forum in November 2022, following rioting in Iran over the unexpected death of a young lady at a Tehran police station and her subsequent hospitalization. 

Ensieh Khazali, the vice president of Iran for women and family affairs, is in New York for the 68th annual session of the Commission on the Status of Women, which is the largest annual meeting of the UN devoted to women’s empowerment and gender equality. 

On Thursday, she met the forum’s chair UN Ambassador Antonio Lagdameo who appreciated the participation of the high-ranking Iranian delegation in the meeting and the frank positions which it expressed in its address to the meeting.

Lagdameo also expressed gratitude to Iran for helping Gazans and Afghan immigrants, adding that “we are also working for this issue” and that the ECOSOC should decide whether to reinstate Iran in the Commission on the Status of Women. 

He went on to commend the rise in the scientific and technological prowess of Iranian women and proposed stepping up exchanges between Iranian and Filipino colleges. 

Khazali expressed gratitude to the commission for working with Iran to organize bilateral meetings, a specialist round table, and an engaging discussion on women’s empowerment and gender equality. 

She cited the seventh meeting of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Working Group on Women’s Economic Empowerment which was held in Tehran on May 22-23, 2023, during which various educational workshops were held in person and virtually for the women of the IORA region.

“This is due to the improvement of Iranian women's scientific ability, which according to official statistics, 24% of the inventors of my country are women, which is higher than the world average.”

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has taken unique measures for Afghan immigrants as well as for Iranian women and girls,” Khazali stated. For instance, the Iran University of Medical Sciences study shows how well the nation ranks in terms of offering medical care to immigrants. 

“However, we saw Iran’s membership revoked, which goes against the Commission on the Status of Women’s protocol,” she added. 

“If it is to cancel membership, the Israeli regime which has a record of killing thousands of women and children deserves the move,” she stated. 

Khazali urged the UN to exclude Israel from the forum during her Monday speech to the Commission on the Status of Women. 

“Providing relief aid to the hungry and the wounded is nothing more than the bare minimum. Still, the truth of the matter is that the true face and nature of the illegal colonialism-born occupation has now been exposed to millions of people the world over and they know for a fact that the Zionist terrorists, backed by certain veto holders, are carrying out an excruciating genocide, namely the Gaza Holocaust,” Khazali said.

She also stressed that “the free people of the world expect the regime responsible for decades of displacement, rape and murder of millions of women and children, not to have a seat in the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.”

Elsewhere in her remarks, Khazali said that the Zionist terrorists, backed by certain veto holders, are carrying out an excruciating genocide, namely the Gaza Holocaust. “This will have ramifications for the United Nations which is expected to serve as an anchor point and haven for nations.”