UN picks Saudi Arabia to lead women’s rights forum despite ‘abysmal’ record

The Saudi mission to the UN did not respond to a request for comment, but Saudi officials have pointed to a “personal status” law established in 2022 as evidence of progress in women’s rights.

However, the law stipulates that a woman has to obtain a male guardian’s permission to marry. Under the law, a wife has to obey her husband in a “reasonable manner”, while her husband’s financial support is dependent on the wife’s “obedience”.

Refusal to have sex with her husband, live in the marital home or travel with him without a “legitimate excuse” can also justify the withdrawal of financial support under the law. Amnesty International said a leaked draft of a forthcoming new penal code “fails to protect women and girls from all forms of gender-based violence”.

“Saudi Arabia’s election as chair of the UN Commission on the Status of Women shows shocking disregard for women’s rights everywhere,” Louis Charbonneau, UN director at the Human Rights Watch (HRW), said.

“A country that jails women simply because they advocate for their rights has no business being the face of the UN’s top forum for women’s rights and gender equality. Saudi authorities should demonstrate that this honor was not completely undeserved and immediately release all detained women’s rights defenders, end male guardianship and ensure women’s full rights to equality with men.”

Charbonneau said HRW tried to lobby other countries among the current 45 CSW members, which include states with much better records on women’s rights like the Netherlands, Japan, Portugal and Switzerland.

“If they all raised a big enough stink, then it wouldn’t happen,” he said. “But everyone is just quiet. Someone could call a vote, and no one seems to want to do that either, which strikes me as ridiculous.”

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office pointed out that Britain was not a CSW member and therefore had no role in the selection of the chair. In a statement, it added: “We continue to engage closely with the Saudi authorities on women’s rights issues.”

Source: The Guardian

Image: The Guardian