UN picks Saudi Arabia to lead women's rights forum despite 'abysmal' record

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

51% : When the outgoing chair, the Filipino envoy to the UN, Antonio Manuel Lagdameo, asked the 45 members if they had any objections there was silence in the chamber.
49% : The Saudi ambassador to the UN, Abdulaziz Alwasil, was elected as chair of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), by "acclamation" on Wednesday, as there were no rival candidates and no dissent at the CSW's annual meeting in New York.
45% : "The Saudi mission to the UN did not respond to a request for comment, but Saudi officials have pointed to a "personal status" law established in 2022 as evidence of progress in women's rights.
42% : Amnesty International said a leaked draft of a forthcoming new penal code "fails 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 shocking disregard for women's rights everywhere," Louis Charbonneau, UN director at the Human Rights Watch (HRW), said.

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