UN elects Saudi Arabia to women's rights commission; move sparks criticism

United Nations: The United Nations (UN) has elected Saudi Arabia, which is very strict about its policy of gender segregation, to its women’s rights commission, drawing criticism from human rights groups.

Director of UN Watch Hillel Neuer said that at least five European Union states voted in a secret ballot for the Saudis to serve a four-year term on the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), according to a report in The Independent.

Saudi is now among the 45 countries on the CSW, which “promotes 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,” the UN said.

Saudi’s election to the CSW has outraged several human rights groups, which called the move “absurd”. "Electing Saudi Arabia to protect women’s rights is like making an arsonist into the town fire chief," Neuer said.

Neuer said that all women in Saudi Arabia must have a male guardian who makes all important decisions for her. Women are also banned from driving cars and cannot obtain a driving license, he added.

The World Economic Forum had also given Saudi Arabia the 134th rank among 145 countries in its 2015 Global Gender Gap report.

However, the move received support from a former administrator of the UN Development Programme, Helen Clark. “It's important to support those in the country who are working for change for women. Things are changing, but slowly,” Clark said.

This is not the first time that Saudi Arabia has become a subject of debate. Saudi Arabia was subjected to criticism in March this year when it’s first ever girls council meeting had only men. However, the organisers claimed that there were women involved in the event, but they were sitting in a separate room.