UN Gives Iran Leadership Post in Agency for 'Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women'

(CNSNews.com) – With little fanfare, a U.N. body has given Iran seats on several entities, including one dealing with women’s empowerment, another with children, a third with narcotics and a fourth with crime prevention and criminal justice.

From January 1 next year, Iran will be a member of the executive board of the U.N. Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (U.N. Women), the executive board of the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, and Commission on Narcotic Drugs.

U.S. taxpayers account for 22 percent of the U.N.’s regular operating budget, plus millions of additional dollars to individual U.N. agencies. The State Department’s fiscal year 2016 request includes $7.7 million for U.N. Women and $132 million for UNICEF.

The decisions were made between Wednesday and Friday last week, at sessions of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), a 54-member U.N. organ that coordinates socio-economic and related affairs.

Iran each time was on a “closed slate” of candidates put forward by its regional group, Asia. The contentious U.N. practice, which entails submitting the same number of candidates as there are vacancies available, effectively rules out any contest.

Closed slates have enabled repressive regimes to take up leadership posts across the U.N. system. Unless objections are raised, there is no actual vote, and the regionally-endorsed candidates are instead given the nod “by...
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