UPDATED Iran: Tehran, Defender of Rights (Don't Mention Boobquake), Joins UN Commission on Status of Women
Friday, April 30, 2010 at 17:49 How Iran News is Made: Adultery, Earthquakes, and the BBC
UPDATED 1 MAY: There have been numerous public statements denouncing the vote for Iran's membership of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Two examples:
Mission Free Iran: "While hundreds of our sisters suffer in prison because they stood up for their own rights, the UN Commission on the Status of Women dares to stand against them by allowing the Islamic regime a seat at the table."
The Latest from Iran (30 April): The Heaviness of the Atmosphere
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center: "The women of Iran and the rest of the world deserve better. The United Nations and the
world must not let Mr. Ahmadinejad and the government he leads continue to violate the human rights of Iranians.
UPDATED 30 APRIL: The incomparable Tom Lehrer said that, when Henry Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, "It was the day satire died."
Well, satire may have been slain again. From Wednesday's report of the United Nations Economic and Social Council:
The Council elected 11 new members to fill an equal number of vacancies on the Commission on the Status of Women for four-year terms beginning at the first meeting of the Commission’s fifty-sixth session in 2011 and expiring at the close of its fifty-ninth session in 2015. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia and Zimbabwe were elected from the Group of African States; Iran and Thailand were elected from the Group of Asian States; Estonia and Georgia were elected from the Group of Eastern European States; Jamaica was elected from the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States; and Belgium, Netherlands and Spain were elected from the Group of Western European and Other States.
In the category of You Really Couldn't Make This Up:
Iranian authorities have confirmed reports of their withdrawal from membership in the United Nations Human Rights Council and announced their candidacy for the International Commission for Protection of Women's Rights. [This is probably a reference to the UN Commission on the Status of Women.]
Beyond the implication of "Well, if we're not allowed to represent humans, we'll take the second-best of representing women", Iranian officials might ponder the juxtaposition of applying for the ICPWR when dozens of women's rights activists are being protected through detention in Iran's prisons.
In making their application, they might consult Shirin Ebadi (living in exile, threatened with confiscation of her Nobel Peace Prize and closure of her Centre for the Defence of Human Rights), Shadi Sadr (defense lawyer of Shiva Nazar Ahari, human rights activists and member of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters,who has been detained since 14 June), or Zahra Rahnavard (surrounded and attacked by plainclothes forces on 11 February), or Bahareh Hedayat (nominated for the 2010 Students Peace Prize but sitting in Evin Prison).
Still, this is far from the first proclamation of the Iranian regime that it is the true protector of women. When Tehran realised that activists and groups inside and outside Iran were making statements for International Women's Day (8 March) that inconveniently mentioned not only equality but also justice and rights, the Supreme Leader belatedly brought out a Valentine card, recycling his statement of 14 February on "women's rights and role in society".
So perhaps Iran can offer bona fides for its new campaign with an endorsement of Boobquake. The humourous Facebook response to the messages by Hojatoleslam Seddiqi and Ayatollah Jannati at Tehran Friday Prayers --- immorality causes earthquakes; what immorality? why, wearing inappropriate dresses, leading on young men, encouraging sinful thoughts --- has now escalated into rallies on Monday from New York City to Washington DC to West Lafayette, Indiana.
That's a long way for the Supreme Leader to travel, and I've heard it's a bit difficult getting a permit to march in Tehran these days. But perhaps Ayatollah Khamenei might put on a fetching "Boobquake 2010: Who Says Science Has to Be Boring?" T-shirt (50% of profits to the International Red Cross; 50% to the James Randi Educational Foundation). Or maybe noted wordsmith President Ahmadinejad can offer a quip about "weapons of mass destruction".
But at least, the Iranian officials who are sharpening up that application for the UN might add this to their dossier: how many "immoral" women do you think will be detained and held without charge on Monday?
Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Bahareh Hedayat, Boobquake, Henry Kissinger, Hojatoleslam Kazem Seddiqi, International Committee of the Red Cross, Iran, Iran Elections 2009, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, James Randi Educational Foundation, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Middle East & Iran
Reader Comments (10)
Pedestrian alerts us to another facebook page, this time set up by students at the School of Engineering at the University of Tehran in reaction to a huge poster erected by the university’s security headquarters calling the students to shame for turning the university, which “used to be a place of chastity and scholarly pursuit”, into a “pleasure island [eshratkadeh] of corruption and sin.”
Not to be missed:
http://www.sidewalklyrics.com/?p=6375
Where is the International Commission for Protection of Women’s Rights? Does it have a website?
Lissnup,
Good question. There is no body by the exact name of ICPWR. I think Iran's Foreign Ministry was referring to the UN Commission on the Status of Women --- have amended the entry accordingly.
S.
RE update 20 April
A little reminder of how this came about:
According to a report from a Rooz correspondent, the previous candidate, Pakistan, retracted its candidacy in favor of Iran. The Rooz correspondent’s report reveals that from Asia, Iran and Thailand had announced their candidacy for membership in the CSW, but at Iran’s request Thailand retracted its candidacy in Iran’s favor.
http://www.roozonline.com/english/news/newsitem/article/2010/april/28//wheeling-and-dealing-for-asian-seat-in-the-commission-on-the-status-of-women.html
What really shocks me, though, is that The Democratic Republic of the Congo was elected - an infinitely worse offender of women's rights than Iran! During the Democratic Republic of Congo's five-year war, more than 80,000 women and girls were raped.
In 2008, I saw an amazing documentary film by two young Dutch women, 'Fighting the Silence', that tells the stories of rape survivors in the DRC. I urged them to contact Aljazeera English about their film - and AJE ended up broadcasting it and doing a Witness programme about the making of the film: http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/witness/2009/05/200951111273619765.html
Film website
http://www.ifproductions.nl/fightingthesilence/index.html
OOPS - I meant RE update 30
Shadi Sadr was arrested on the 14 June and detained for a certain period (don't know how long) but as far as I know she is currently living in Frankfurt/Germany. She is thus another activist forced into exile.
“Well, if we’re not allowed to represent humans, we’ll take the second-best of representing women”
should actually read
“Well, if we’re not allowed to oppress humans, we’ll take the second-best of oppressing women”
“Well, if we’re not allowed to represent humans, we’ll take the second-best of representing women”
Planet of the Apes!
Women's Activists Oppose Iran Bid For UN Committee Membership
A group of women's rights activists in Iran and worldwide has written an open letter to the United Nations opposing the Iranian government's bid for membership on the UN's Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports
http://www.rferl.org/content/Womens_Activists_Oppose_Iran_Bid_For_UN_Committee_Membership/2027891.html
The IRI regime may have benefitted from Boobquake
http://jigsawnovich.blogspot.com/2010/04/world-press-distracted-by-boobquake_30.html" rel="nofollow">http://jigsawnovich.blogspot.com/2010/04/world-...