UN Watch slams Saudi’s election to Women’s Rights Commission

Saudi Arabia has been elected to the UN women's rights commission, prompting outrage from human rights groups.

The Geneva-based human rights group UN Watch condemned the U.N.'s 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 "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 morally reprehensible."

"This is a black day for women's rights, and for all human rights," said Neuer.

"Saudi discrimination against women is gross and systematic in law and in practice. Every Saudi woman," said Neuer, "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?"

Saudi women feel betrayed by the UN. "I wish I could find the words to express how I feel right know. I'm 'saudi' and this feels like betrayal,"tweeted a self-described Saudi woman pursuing a doctorate in international human rights law in Australia."

"Today the UN sent a message that women's rights can be sold out for petro-dollars and politics," said Neuer, "and it let down millions of female victims worldwide who look to the world body for protection."

Saudi Arabia was elected by a secret ballot last week of the U.N.'s 54-nation Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Usually ECOSOC rubber-stamps nominations arranged behind closed doors by regional groups, however this time the U.S. forced an election, to China's chagrin.

The World Economic Forum's 2015 Global Gender Gap report ranked Saudi Arabia 134 out of 145 countries for gender equality. It is the only country in the world where women are prohibited from driving and are unable to obtain a driving licence. 

Saudi Arabia, the country to which the UK exports most weapons, already sits on the UN Human Rights Council.