As of: March 28, 2024, 10:58 a.m
By: Paula Völkner
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With Saudi Arabia, a country in which women are oppressed is to take over the UN presidency of the Women's Commission. Human rights organizations are outraged.
New York City - The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women says it is committed to gender equality and the promotion of women's rights worldwide. Saudi Arabia, a country in which women and girls continue to face discrimination, is now set to take over the presidency of the commission, the British
Guardian
reported . Human rights organizations are outraged.
Human Rights Watch
issued a call on March 19 for the commission's member states to stop Saudi Arabia's designation because of its "bottomless record" on women's rights. They demanded that delegations attending the Commission's annual meeting "speak out against Saudi Arabia's candidacy." The country was therefore the only candidate for the presidency. Human Rights Watch found in the publication that women in Saudi Arabia are systematically persecuted and that the UN mission itself does not give the country a pioneering role when it comes to women's rights.
Philippines gives up seat after pressure from Asia: Saudi Arabia becomes the beneficiary
The
Guardian
report also confirms that there were no opposing candidates for the chair of the Women's Rights Commission. Despite calls from Human Rights Watch, none of the delegates from 45 countries objected to the nomination at the annual meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York. The Saudi Arabian envoy Abdulaziz Alwasil will now be chairman.
The Philippines most recently held the presidency, which is usually given to a country for two years. Due to pressure from other Asian countries, the country relinquished its chairmanship after one year. The chairmanship was then supposed to go to Bangladesh, but the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ultimately secured the position through lobbying.
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud at a meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York in 2018 (archive image) © AFP PHOTO / Bryan R. Smith
Amnesty International: Women's rights in Saudi Arabia 'far from the Commission's mandate'
Sherine Tadros, the head of Amnesty International in New York, criticized the choice: "Saudi Arabia is now in the lead, but Saudi Arabia's own record on women's rights is abysmal and far removed from the commission's mandate."
As recently as February 2024, Amnesty International reported that Saudi authorities had arrested 29-year-old women's rights activist, Manahel al-Otaibi. The 29-year-old was charged with cybercrime for posts supporting women's rights and photos of herself without an abaya, the traditional long-sleeved garment.
According to the Guardian,
Saudi Arabia referred to its “personal status law” when asked for a statement. Commenting on the law, introduced in 2022, Human Rights Watch wrote in its publication on the Saudi kingdom's presidency that the Saudi leadership likes to portray the law as progressive, but it "officially enshrines male guardianship of women and contains provisions that prohibit domestic violence and sexual abuse." make marriage easier.”
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Accusation of the CSW states: lack of serious commitment to women's rights
Commenting on Saudi Arabia's appointment, Louis Charbonneau of Human Rights Watch wrote on Platform to be for women’s rights and gender equality.”
In 2022, Iran was expelled from the Women's Commission as a result of its repression of women and ongoing violence against women protesters. Referring to the exclusion of Iran, Charbonneau wrote in the call to the CSW states that supporting Saudi Arabia's candidacy was a sign of "their lack of serious commitment to women's rights."
(pav)