By UN Watch —— Bio and Archives June 9, 2017
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Mr. President, we thank the Special Rapporteur for his report on Saudi Arabia, which documents the monarchy’s gross and systematic violation of women’s rights. Professor Alston, we have only one question for you today. But first we wish to cite some of the evidence in your report. Saudi Arabia, as you note at paragraph 41, ranks among the world’s worst violators of gender equality.
Saudi Arabia, as you note at paragraph 45, is the only country in the world where women are prohibited from driving. In 2014, Loujain al-Hathloul, a Saudi women’s rights activist, was jailed for 73 days. What was her crime? The crime of driving while being a woman. This Sunday, as BBC reported, she was arrested again. In Saudi Arabia, as you note at paragraph 46, public sector employment is segregated, and confined to limited posts. There are no female judges, no female prosecutors. In Saudi Arabia, as you note at paragraph 48, there is little space for women to participate in public policymaking. No organizations are allowed to work on women’s rights, or indeed to work on human rights at all. Indeed, at footnote 45, you note that Saudi Arabia jailed one of its most prominent women’s rights activists, Samar Badawi. Her brother, human rights activist Raif Badawi, is languishing in prison on a 10-year sentence. In Saudi Arabia, there is an online campaign to end its oppressive system requiring women to have male guardians to travel, marry, work or get health care. These restrictions last from birth until death. In the view of the Saudi state, women are permanent legal minors. Professor Alston, in light of the above, do you believe it was appropriate for the United Nations to elect Saudi Arabia to its Commission on the Status of Women, the principal UN agency on gender equality and the empowerment of women? Do you believe Saudi Arabia is qualified to be an e member of this Council?
I was asked by an NGO whether Saudi Arabia should be a member of this council. That’s not a question for me to answer, but I have to say that I think such questions are a distraction and a gross oversimplification and most unhelpful. I think what we need is to ensure engagement with countries like Saudi Arabia. The situation of women, the situation of other groups remains well behind the standards that we can expect, but they will only be improved through engagement and not through attempts to stigmatize.
UN Watch is a Geneva-based human rights organization founded in 1993 to monitor UN compliance with the principles of its Charter. It is accredited as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Special Consultative Status to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and as an Associate NGO to the UN Department of Public Information (DPI).