Saudi Arabia is set to become a UN commissioner said to promote gender equality and empower women around the world, after electing an uncontested leader who was criticized by human rights groups for the kingdom’s “terrible” record on women’s rights. was elected as the chairman of the committee.
Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Abdulaziz Alwasir, “applauds” the head of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) after there were no challengers or dissenting voices at the CSW annual meeting in New York on Wednesday. was selected by. .
Mr. Alwasir was supported by the Committee’s group of Asia-Pacific countries. The chamber fell silent after the outgoing chair, Antonio Manuel Lagdameo, the UN special envoy to the Philippines, asked the 45 members if they had any objections.
“I hear no objections. It is decisive,” said Lagdameo.
Normally, a country holds the chair for two years, but the Philippines faced pressure from other members of the Asian group to split the chair’s term and hand it over to another country after one year. Bangladesh was expected to take over, but Saudi Arabia intervened late in the process and lobbied for the presidency. This is widely seen as an attempt to burnish the kingdom’s image.
Human rights groups were quick to point out the irony of CSW being led by a country where the gap between the rights of men and women is so wide, even in theory.
Sherine Tadros, head of Amnesty International’s New York office, noted that Saudi Arabia will assume the presidency next year, which marks the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration, a landmark blueprint for advancing women’s rights globally.
“Whoever becomes the commission’s chair, currently in Saudi Arabia, will be in a critical position to influence planning, decisions, understanding and prospects during a critical year for the commission,” Tadros said. “Saudi Arabia is currently in the lead, but its own track record on women’s rights is abysmal and falls far short of the commission’s mandate.”
The Saudi mission to the United Nations did not respond to requests for comment, but Saudi officials cited the 2022 Personal Status Law as evidence of progress in women’s rights.
However, the law states that women must obtain permission from a male guardian to marry. according to lawthe wife must obey her husband in a “reasonable manner”, but the husband’s financial support depends on the wife’s “obedience”.
Refusal to have sex with her husband, live in the marital home, or travel with her husband without “just cause” may also justify termination of financial support under the law. Amnesty International said the draft had been leaked. Future new criminal law “We are failing 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 a shocking disregard for the rights of women everywhere,” said Louis Charbonneau, UN Executive Director at Human Rights Watch (HRW).
“A country that imprisons women simply because they advocate for their rights has no right to be the face of the United Nations’ highest body on women’s rights and gender equality. certify that the law was not entirely unjust, immediately release all detained women’s rights defenders, abolish male guardianship, and ensure women’s full rights on an equal basis with men. Should.”
Charbonneau said HRW had tried to reach out to other countries of CSW’s current 45 member states, including those with better records on women’s rights, such as the Netherlands, Japan, Portugal and Switzerland.
“If they all made a big enough stink, nothing like that wouldn’t happen,” he said. “But everyone is silent. Someone could have called for a vote, but no one seems to want to do that, and I think that’s ridiculous.”
The UK’s Department for Foreign Affairs, Commonwealth and Development said it had no role in selecting the chair because the UK is not a member of the CSW. The country added in a statement that it “continues to work closely with the Saudi authorities on women’s rights issues.”
