Israel Matzav

Iran joins UN women's rights commission

The same week that Libya was finally suspended from the UN 'Human Rights' Council, Iran took its position as a member of that body's women's rights commission.

Here's an example of how Iran treats its women.

Let's go to the videotape.

Lazy Susan has no comment

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is about to be executed in Iran for a murder that there is no proof she committed. And the United States and its female ambassador to the United Nations are silent.

Even the New York Times and the Washington Post have covered the story. Mina Ahadi, a spokesman for the International Committee Against Stoning and Execution, has been engaged in non-stop demonstrations against the Iranian government and its perverse judicial decision.

Remarkably, Ms. Ashtiani probably has no idea that there is vocal support for her cause. Iranian mullahs do not react to appeals of reason and fairness: Only when their positions are watched and challenged with condemnation, do the mullahs pay attention.

This explains why the United States' official inattention to this matter is tragic. As we have not offered a diplomatic protest -- have not uttered a word about Iran's role on the Committee for Women's Rights, the United States has abandoned its moral leadership in matters affecting all women.

Where is our leadership on this matter? And where are the feminists who should be at the barricades over this issue?

This is not the first time, and probably will not be the last time, hypocrisy is on display. But it is morally repugnant for a nation that is willing to consider stoning for an alleged legal infraction -- with no evidence other than the judges "feelings" - is in the position of defining rights for women.

This bizarre set of conditions demonstrates an Iran and its byzantine policies on the ascendency and the United States in decline. And that can only mean turning the clock back several centuries to when women did not have legal rights and were considered "half a man" in a court of justice.

My suspicion is that if former Ambassador John Bolton were representing American interests at the United Nations, a protest voice would be heard. Unfortunately Ms. Rice, his successor, and President Obama, have chosen appeasement as their strategy, perhaps believing that if we offend the Iranian mullahs, negotiations with them on nuclear weapons and other matters would be impossible.

Indeed. Read the whole thing.

Labels: executions, Iran, Susan Rice, UN Women's Rights Agency, women

Interview: Hillel Neuer blasts Saudi Arabia's selection to UN Women's Rights Agency

Here's UN Watch's Hillel Neuer blasting the election of Saudi Arabia to the UN's new women's rights agency. This interview was broadcast on Canadian radio on Saturday.

Let's go to the videotape.