File image of New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern. AP
New Delhi: New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has called for the expulsion of Iran from the United Nations Women’s Rights Commission.
“It is not sustainable for a country that continues to so brutally attack the rights of women to belong to a pre-eminent global body dedicated to promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment,” she said.
Notably, New Zealand sits on ECOSOC, the UN body with the power to remove Iran from the commission.
Iran protests
Protests erupted in Iran erupted after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on 16 September. She died in a hospital following her arrest by the controversial morality police which is responsible for upholding Iran’s mandatory hijab law.
Security forces have struggled to contain the protests, which started with women taking to the streets and burning their hijab headscarves and which have evolved into a broader campaign to end the Islamic republic founded in 1979.
With inputs from agencies
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