United Nations, New York – Iran has been elected vice-chairman of the United Nations Charter Committee, a body charged with examining and strengthening the principles of the UN Charter, drawing criticism from Israel and re-examining the organization’s selection processes.
The appointment was approved at the commission’s opening meeting as part of the executive composition, through an agreed procedure and without a formal vote.
Uproar after Iran was appointed vice-chairman of the UN body for the promotion of democracy and women’s rights
The United Nations in New York City, July 16, 2024. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
“The election of any Member State as a member of a body is the result of the vote of the Member States themselves,” Ssaid Téphane Dujarric, spokesman for the Secretary General. “So questions about who gets elected to which bodies is a question for the member states. We expect every member state of this organization to uphold the charter, to uphold the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as they themselves signed up to the club that is the UN and that establishes this organization, some of our founding documents.”
Pressed on whether the Secretary General would condemn Iran’s election, the spokesperson added: “It is not for him to condemn the election of any Member State to any body. He will and has condemned when Member States, by their actions, in his opinion, violate the Charter or human rights.”
The Charter Committee operates under the UN Legal Committee and meets annually. His mandate includes examining issues related to the Charter and proposing ways to strengthen its implementation, although his work typically requires consensus among member states and rarely leads to binding action.
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U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Michael Waltz speaks with Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon before a Security Council meeting in New York City, November 17, 2025. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)
Anne Bayefsky, president of Human Rights Voices and director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust, sharply criticized the move, linking it to long-standing concerns about the UN’s performance.
“The UN established a commission in 1974, ostensibly to ‘enhance the UN’s ability to achieve its purposes.’ The problem is that the UN has since been on a downward trajectory in actually achieving its primary objectives, which are to maintain international peace and security and to promote respect for basic human rights,” Bayefsky said.
“Given that Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism and a country committed to the destruction of the Jewish state and the bloody oppression of its own people, the UN designation helps make clear that the UN’s goals in our time are in fact contrary to peace, rights and human dignity.”
Iranian security forces have reportedly killed prisoners and burned bodies during protests. (NCRI)
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, has sharply criticized Iran’s appointment.
“This is a moral absurdity,” Danon said. “A regime that violates the basic principles of the UN cannot represent them.
“A country that systematically violates the UN’s founding principles cannot hold a leadership position concerned with strengthening them. The UN cannot continue to grant legitimacy to regimes that violate the principles of its own charter.”
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Protesters gather outside the United Nations during Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s speech at the General Assembly in New York City, September 24, 2025. (Alireza Jafarzadeh)
The commission has served as a forum for political disputes among member states in recent years, including criticism of Israel, diplomats say. Iran’s choice for a leadership role comes amid an ongoing debate over how the UN balances representation of member states with concerns about the human rights record and compliance with the organization’s founding principles.
The UN maintains that leadership positions in all its committees are determined by member states, not the secretariat, and reflect internal diplomatic processes rather than endorsement of any government’s policies or track record.
