AJC Denounces UN Election of Iran to Commission on the Status of Women

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May 04, 2010, 06:28 ET

NEW YORK, May 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC condemned the election of Iran to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, a body tasked by the world organization to conduct reviews of member states records on women's rights. Iran, along with ten other nations, was elected by acclamation, meaning no open vote was requested or required by member states.

"Iran is a country where women and girls can face stoning based on spurious allegations of impropriety, have no right to education or divorce, are regularly condemned to forced marriages and risk violence and imprisonment for seeking equal rights," said AJC Executive Director David Harris. "The election of the Iranian regime to this commission makes a total mockery of the UN's mission to promote women's rights."

The election of Iran to this council comes a week after one of the country's leading clerics, Kazem Sedighi, claimed that countries where women do not dress modestly are more susceptible to earthquakes.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee