Taghribnews (TNA) - Netherlands raps US-led bid for ousting Iran from UN Women’s Commission

The Netherlands has condemned a recent bid led by the United States to oust Islamic Republic of Iran from UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) stressing that the body is a place for all member states of the United Nations.

Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Wopke Hoekstra said the CSW, dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women, is a place for all UN member states, particularly those whose policies are less aligned with the rest, to work together and build a consensus.

Australia, Canada, England, Guatemala and New Zealand have already announced their support for Washington’s push to oust the Islamic Republic of Iran from the 45-member commission.

Last week, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry denounced the US-led political bids to remove the country from the CSW, warning that such an illegal precedent would question the UN member states’ right to vote.

Nasser Kan’ani said at a press conference on December 5 that Tehran condemns the unacceptable move by a number of Western governments to exploit the internal developments in Iran to impose political pressures on the Islamic Republic.

“Currently, the US is trying with the help of certain European governments to put obstacles in the way of Iran’s membership in the CSW in a totally political and illegal move by imposing pressures, using political potentials, and influencing independent states,” he said.

The diplomat warned that such a plan by the US amounts to a move against the free vote of nations at international organizations and structures before being an action against Iran.

“The US’ move is practically questioning the right to vote of the UN’s independent states and has disputed the value of votes of those nations,” Kan’ani said.

The Islamic Republic of Iran will use all of its political and diplomatic capacities to prevent the political move, he noted.

Foreign-backed riots have hit various Iranian provinces since 22-year-old woman Mahsa Amini died at the hospital on September 16, three days after she collapsed at a police station. An investigation has attributed Amini’s death to her medical condition, rather than alleged beatings by the police.

The violent riots, meanwhile, have claimed the lives of dozens of people and security forces, while also allowing terrorist attacks across the country. In the last two months, the terrorists have set fire to public property and tortured several Basij members and security forces to death.

On October 26, a Daesh-affiliated terrorist attacked the Shah Cheragh shrine in the southern province of Fars before the evening prayers, killing at least 15 pilgrims — including a woman and two children — and injuring 40 others.

At least seven people were also killed after terrorists opened fire at people and security forces at a crowded market in Khuzestan province’s Izeh around sunset on November 16.