Source: UN Watch

January 17, 2008- UN Watch expressed disappointment that Saudi Arabia today

used its first appearance before a UN expert panel on women's rights to mask

the pervasive discrimination against women in the desert kingdom. "Instead

of sending massive delegations to the UN to pretend that Saudi women are

not treated like chattel, Riyadh should focus on reforming the kind of

discriminatory laws that sentence women rape victims to 90 lashes, and

double if they appeal," said Hillel Neuer, executive director of the

Geneva-based monitoring group.

As a newly elected member of the 47-nation UN Human Rights Council, said

Neuer, "it is high time for Saudi Arabia to live up to its solemn

undertakings under international law to respect women's equality."

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

is an expert body composed of 23 experts on women's issues from around the

world, mandated to watch over progress for women in countries that signed

the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination

against Women, which as of 2000 includes Saudi Arabia.

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