Saudi Arabia was today elected to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women for a four-year term beginning in March 2023, at the first meeting of the body’s 68th session, and expiring in March 2027, at the close of its 71st session.
“Electing Saudi Arabia to a women’s rights commission is like making a pyromaniac into the town fire chief,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of the independent non-governmental organization UN Watch, based in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Commission on the Status of Women, according to its website, is the “principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.”
The Commission describes itself as “instrumental in promoting women’s rights, documenting the reality of women’s lives throughout the world, and shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women.”
EXPOSED: Saudi Arabia was elected by acclamation to the U.N. Women's Rights Commission. None of our democracies on ECOSOC—not Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, New Zealand, Portugal, UK or USA—called a vote. https://t.co/xTQbQ3B9Dp pic.twitter.com/RmdzVh2zie
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) April 14, 2022
BREAKING: 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia was just elected to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women.
The Saudi regime has one of the world’s most horrific records on women’s rights, and on all human rights. #LiftRaifTravelBan
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) April 13, 2022
