Riyadh in no position to speak on behalf of women at UN: Analyst

Members of the European Parliament have slammed as repugnant and unacceptable the April election of Saudi Arabia to serve on the UN women’s right commission. The UN vote, which paved the way for Riyadh, viewed as the world’s leading oppressor of women, to sit on the council prompted outrage from human rights groups worldwide. Press TV has asked  Catherine Shakdam, director of the Shafaqna Institute for Middle Eastern Studies from London, and Jihad Mouracadeh, lecturer and political analyst from Beirut, to express their views on the issue.

Shakdam said that the Saudi kingdom has no right to represent women in the international community, because the regime does not even recognize the basic rights of its own female citizens.

“Saudi Arabia does not recognize women as human being,” the expert said on Wednesday night.

The regime in Riyadh “is in no position to be speaking on behalf of woman,” because women in the kingdom are “less than nothing,” and are treated as “commodities,” she noted.

In recent years, Saudi Arabia has come under intense pressure by rights groups for mistreating women. In 2016, the kingdom was ranked 141 out of 144 on the Global Gender Gap Index.

Shakdam went on to say, “Saudi Arabia right now is lobbying enough Western capitals, Washington and London of course, to try to push their agenda and to try to reach the highest office in the international community.”

“The United Nations has no clue whatsoever” and “the only thing that the UN is responding to right now is money and how much political attraction one can have,” the analyst complained.

The international community “is desperately trying to present and portray Saudi Arabia as a legitimate power,” but the reality is that the state is a reactionary power “living and breathing on sectarianism” and denying the rights of religious minorities, ethnic groups and women, she argued.

“When you have a country such as this to be sitting anywhere in the international community, is an insult to the rest of the world,” she added.

Meanwhile, Jihad Mouracadeh said, “Within the rules of the United Nations, women’s rights are very different from what they are in Saudi Arabia.”

He said there are different rules and regulations when it comes to treating women throughout the world and in various countries.

“You cannot impose on Saudi Arabia the rules that are existing in England or in France,” Mouracadeh explained.

Therefore, he urged, “One must respect the way people deal with women as long as women’s rights are not subordinated.”

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