US wants Iran ousted from UN women’s body

UNITED NATIONS — The United States will try to remove Iran from the 45-member UN Commission on the Status of Women over the government's denial of women's rights and brutal crackdown on protests, US Vice President Kamala Harris said on Wednesday.

Iran has just started a four-year term on the commission, which meets annually every March and aims to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Iran has for the past six weeks been rocked by protests of a scale and nature unprecedented since the 1979 Islamic revolution, sparked by the death in September of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested by the Tehran morality police.

The authorities have warned protesters it is time to leave the streets but the demonstrations have shown no sign of abating, taking place in residential areas, major avenues and universities nationwide. — Reuters