Saudi Arabia was elected as the presiding country in the commission UN which is supposed to promote gender equality and empower women around the world, after an uncontested leadership bid that was condemned by human rights groups on the basis of women's rights regardless of the issue.
Saudi ambassador to the UN Abdulaziz Alwasil was elected president of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) on Wednesday by "acclamation" after being unopposed at the annual meeting in New York.
Human rights groups have pointed to the irony that CSW is run by a country where the gap between men's and women's rights, even on paper, is so wide. At the same time, this country belongs to the group of those where women have almost no rights.
Sherin Tadros, head of the New York office of Amnesty International, pointed out that Saudi Arabia will be the chairman next year, on the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration, which is a milestone for the advancement of women's rights at the global level.
"Whoever presides, which is now Saudi Arabia, is in a key position to influence planning, decisions, insight and looking ahead, in a critical year for the commission," Tadros said. "Saudi Arabia is now in the lead, but Saudi Arabia's own record on women's rights is abysmal and far from the mandate of the commission."
