No, this is not a parody.

The United Nations has elected Iran to its Commission on the Status of Women, handing a four-year seat on what is supposed to be an influential human-rights body to a theocratic state in which stoning is enshrined in law and lashings are required for women deemed to be “immodest.”

Here is the story, buried in this UN press release.

So far among major media, only Joseph Abrams of Fox News seems to have picked up on this latest startling example of UN hypocrisy. (Where’s the New York Times? Oh wait, this story doesn’t concern the Palestinians or George W. Bush.)

According to its website, The UN Commission on the Status of Women is “dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women”.

Clearly.