Lawmakers worldwide are expressing outrage after UN Watch revealed that numerous democracies — including Canada, Australia, France, the UK, Germany, Spain, Norway, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, and Finland — joined in the consensus nomination of the Islamic Republic of Iran to a key UN body that will meet soon to address women's rights and terrorism prevention.
On April 8, the UN’s 54-nation Economic and Social Council nominated the Islamic Republic of Iran to the UN’s Committee for Program and Coordination, which meets this week to shape policy on women's rights, human rights, disarmament, and terrorism prevention.
In addition, the same democracies also joined to elect by acclamation the regimes of China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan to the Committee on NGOs — which oversees the work, accreditation, and UN access of thousands of human rights and civil society groups that enjoy consultative status at the world body.
The United States was the only member to object, saying that Iran, Cuba and Nicaragua were “unfit.”
Uplifting Dictatorships to Key Committees Puts Lives at Risk
“Appointing China, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia to oversee the work of human rights activists is like putting Al Capone in charge of fighting organized crime,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. “It’s truly indefensible, and puts lives at risk.”
As an organization accredited with special NGO consultative status at the United Nations, and which regularly gives a platform to dissidents from China, Cuba, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Nicaragua, UN Watch is gravely concerned that these same brutal dictatorships were elected to oversee the work of NGOs at the UN. Even more scandalous that Western democracies helped to put them there.
This means dictatorships will have a majority on the committee, allowing them to deny United Nations accreditation to independent organizations that call out their human rights violations, and to accredit more fake front groups created by the regimes.
Canadian Foreign Ministry Slapped With “Community Note” As Democracies Falsely Deny Responsibility for Nominating Iran
After UN Watch exposed the silence and complicity of the democracies in nominating Iran, several governments tried to deflect criticism by suggesting that they never endorsed Iran, saying that it was done by a regional group.
UN Watch was quick to refute these claims, proving in detail how the formal nomination was done exclusively by the UN Economic and Social Council, in a consensus decision that included, Canada, Germany, the UK and the others.
As a result, Canada’s foreign ministry got swiftly slapped with a Community Note on X for its misleading statement that tried to mask the fact it allowed the nomination of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Each of the countries had the option to object and to dissociate themselves from the consensus — but, other than the U.S., they all chose silence instead.
UN Watch showed how the EU, Canada, and the UK clearly had other options, because, in 2022, each had taken action at the same body to object to the election of a Russian national, and to dissociate themelves from the consensus.
However, the democracies failed to do the same now to protest the election of serial violators such as Iran, China, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan. | 
