Dozens of children have died during the Iranian government’s crackdown on protests across the country, prompting some to urge the United Nations to kick Iran out of the global body.
“It is time for the international community to stand by the Iranian people, accept their will and recognize their right to resist and defend themselves,” the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) told Fox News Digital. “This can be achieved by shutting down the regime’s embassies and designating the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group to hold the regime to account and end their impunity.”
“The time has come to transfer the dossier on the mullahs’ crimes to the United Nations Security Council and to take steps to expel this murderous regime from the UN,” the statement concluded.
The Iranian regime has failed to stem the protests that have spread across the country and reached over 140 cities and towns over the past three months following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody. At least 700 people have reportedly died as a result of the government crackdown, including dozens of children.
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UNICEF issued a statement on November 27 reporting that as many as 50 children may have died during the protests, but the number could be as high as 65. Iran has regularly denied such actions.
Demonstrators in Iran protest in the streets. (NCRI)
“The Islamic Republic of Iran is a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and has a duty to respect, protect and fulfill the rights of children to life, privacy, freedom of thought and peaceful assembly,” UNICEF said in a statement last month.
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“UNICEF urges authorities to respect the right to peaceful assembly of all children as a basic guarantee – regardless of who they are or where they are located,” the statement added. “Children’s best interests should be at the heart of government action and provide avenues for children to exercise their rights safely in all circumstances.”
A fire burns in the streets of Iran as protesters continue to chant. (NCRI)
According to the NCRI, five of the victims are under the age of 10 and the majority of the victims were male. Most of the child sacrifices came from Zahedan. Most of the children died from gunfire, but some were killed by batons or severe beatings by the security forces.
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Iran’s policy towards protesters, as well as its generally repressive policies towards women, prompted the UN on Wednesday to oust the country from its seat on the Commission on the Status of Women.
Protesters gather around burning debris in the streets of Iran. (NCRI)
NCRI told Fox News Digital that the UN should go further and exclude Iran from the entire organization, citing Article 6 of the UN Charter, which states that “a member of the United Nations that The General Assembly, on the recommendation of the Security Council, may be expelled from the Organization for persistent violations of the principles contained in the Charter.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres deferred comments on membership to the organization itself, but he “believes that all member states must live up to their obligations enshrined in the Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told Fox News Digital.
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Dujarric added that Guterres has “subscribed to” UNICEF’s message on child deaths in the protests and will “continue to comment on these issues”.
Peter Aitken is a reporter at Fox News Digital specializing in national and global news.