U.N. Elects Saudi Arabia to Women’s Rights Commission
Above: UN chief Antonio Guterres with Saudi foreign minister Adel Al-Jubeir
GENEVA, April 23, 2017 — UN Watch today condemned the U.N.’s scandalous election of Saudi Arabia, the world’s most misogynistic regime, to a 2018-2022 term on its Commission on the Status of Women, the U.N. agency that, according to its website, is “exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.”
“Electing Saudi Arabia to protect women’s rights is like making an arsonist into the town fire chief,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. “It’s absurd — and despicable.”
Saudi discrimination against women is gross and systematic in law and in practice. Every Saudi woman must have a male guardian who makes all critical decisions on her behalf, controlling a woman’s life from her birth until death. Saudi Arabia bans women from driving cars.
Why did the U.N. choose the world’s leading promoter of gender inequality to sit on its gender equality commission?
The vote was by secret ballot. However, because only seven of the 54 ECOSOC states did not vote for Saudi Arabia, this means at least five of the following 12 EU states on the council did vote to elect the Saudis: Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, or the UK.
UN Watch today called on all EU governments to declare how they voted, and for their parliamentarians to speak out.
Click here for full story with vote count & video of election, exclusive from UN Watch.
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