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United Nations, New York – Iran has been elected vice-chair of the United Nations Charter Committee, a body tasked with examining and strengthening the principles of the U.N. Charter, drawing criticism from Israel and renewed scrutiny of the organization’s selection processes.
The appointment was approved during the committee’s opening meeting as part of its executive composition, through an agreed procedure and without a formal vote.
At a U.N. press briefing, Fox News Digital asked whether Iran’s record aligns with the values of the Charter and whether the Secretary-General would condemn the move.
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A view of the United Nations Headquarters building in New York City, New York, on July 16, 2024. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
“The election of any member state to a body is the result of voting by member states themselves,” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the Secretary-General said. “So questions about who gets elected to which bodies is a question for member states. We expect every member state of this organization to uphold the Charter, to uphold the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, given that they themselves signed on to this club that the UN is and those are founding, 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 a body. He will condemn and has when member states, through their actions, he feels, violate the charter or human rights.”
The Charter Committee operates under the UN Legal Committee and meets annually. Its mandate includes examining issues related to the Charter and proposing ways to reinforce its implementation, though its work typically requires consensus among member states and rarely results in binding action.
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U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Michael Waltz speaks with Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon before a meeting of the United Nations Security Council to consider a U.S. proposal for a U.N. mandate to establish an international stabilization force in Gaza, at U.N. headquarters in New York City, New York, on Nov. 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 longstanding concerns about the U.N.’s performance.
“The U.N. created a committee back in 1974 supposedly to ‘enhance the ability of the UN to achieve its purposes.’ The trouble is that ever since, the UN has been a downward trajectory on actually achieving its primary purposes, namely, maintaining international peace and security, and promoting respect for fundamental human rights,” Bayefsky said.
“Given that Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism and a country committed to the annihilation of the Jewish state and the bloody repression of its own people, the UN appointment helps clarify that in our time, UN purposes are in fact antithetical to peace, rights and human dignity.”
Iranian security forces reportedly killed detainees and burned bodies during protests, with clashes continuing in Kermanshah, Rasht and Mashhad, Iran, despite government claims. (NCRI)
Israel’s Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon 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.”
Danon added: “A country that systematically violates the basic principles of the UN cannot sit in a leadership position that deals with strengthening them. The UN cannot continue to grant legitimacy to regimes that violate the very principles of its own charter.”
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Protesters rally outside the United Nations during Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s speech at the 2025 United Nations General Assembly in New York City, New York, on Sept. 24, 2025. (Alireza Jafarzadeh)
The committee has in recent years served as a forum for political disputes among member states, including criticism directed at Israel, diplomats say. Iran’s selection to a leadership role comes amid ongoing debate over how the UN balances representation among member states with concerns about human rights records and adherence to the organization’s founding principles.
The U.N. maintains that leadership positions across its committees are determined by member states, not the Secretariat, and reflect internal diplomatic processes rather than endorsement of any government’s policies or record.