Seriously? UN Votes to Let Saudi Arabia Join Women’s Rights Council

Saudi Arabia is notorious for a lot of things, and none of them are good. The nation is known for exporting radical Islam across the world, beheading people for non-violent offenses, muzzling free speech, and of course, treating their women like second-class citizens. So of course, Saudi Arabia should be allowed to send representatives to the UN’s women’s rights commission.

Believe it or not, that actually happened last week. 47 members of the U.N. Economic and Social Council voted via secret ballot to allow Saudi Arabia to join a panel of 45 nations that run The Commission on the Status of Women, an organization that is supposedly dedicated to defending women’s rights around the world. Five of those nations belonged to the EU.

Keep in mind, this is a country where women aren’t allowed to drive, they need to be vouched for by two men if they want to testify in court, they’re completely segregated from men they don’t know in public, and to do pretty much anything from traveling to opening a bank account, they need to ask permission from a male guardian.

Hillel Neurer, head of UN watch, summed up the situation by saying “Electing Saudi Arabia to protect women’s rights is like making an arsonist into the town fire chief. It’s absurd — and morally reprehensible.” He added that “Today the UN sent a message that women’s rights can be sold out for petro-dollars and politics,” and that the organization “let down millions of female victims worldwide who look to the world body for protection.”

This isn’t the first time that something this absurd has happened in the UN. Two years ago Saudi Arabia was allowed to helm the Human Rights Council of the UN.