Saudi
Arabia, appearing for the first time before a UN watchdog for women’s
rights, faced tough questions on Thursday and was challenged to grant
gender equality.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has
23 independent experts monitoring adherence to a 1979 international bill
of rights for women.
The world’s biggest oil exporter ratified the pact in 2000, with the
proviso that Islamic Sharia law would prevail if there were any
contradiction with its provisions.
At a one-day debate on its record, the Saudi delegation came under fire
for failing to meet international norms guaranteeing women’s political,
economic, social and civil rights.
‘Only when women are free to make their own decisions on all aspects of
their life are they full citizens,’ committee member Maria Regina Tavares
da Silva told the Geneva session.
Heisoo Shin, another committee member, said that a system of male
guardianship ‘governed virtually every aspect of a women’s life’ in Saudi
Arabia.
‘Without a man’s consent, a woman cannot study or get health service,
work, marry, conduct business or even get an ambulance service in an
emergency,’ she said.
A report submitted by Riyadh on its compliance with the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women said that there
was ‘no discrimination against women in the laws of the Kingdom.’
The Saudi government said while women’s rights outlined in the Convention
could be invoked before the courts or state authorities, Sharia law must
ultimately prevail.
The application of Sharia law in a rape case last month drew
international criticism and fanned concerns about the status of women in
the conservative Islamic state where powerful clerics demand the strict
seclusion of females.
In that case, King Abdullah pardoned a 19-year-old woman who was
sentenced to flogging for being in the company of a man she was not
related to.
Her indiscretion came to light because she and her companion had been
abducted and gang-rape by seven other men.
Zeid Bin Abdul Mushin Al Hussein, vice president of the Saudi Human
Rights Commission, told the experts: ‘Human rights in the kingdom of
Saudi Arabia are based on Sharia law.’
Saudi officials emphasised progress for women in terms of greater
employment and education in the country, where women may now study both
law and engineering.
The UN experts are expected to raise further questions on women’s rights
in Saudi Arabia before issuing conclusions on the kingdom and seven other
countries at the end of their three-week session on Feb. 1.
