Good decision to make Saudi Arabia chair of UN Women's Rights Forum

The UN has decided to give the chair of the “Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)” to Saudi Arabia on March 27.

This has been roundly condemned by human rights groups and the media citing that country’s “abysmal” record on women’s rights.

But Saudi Arabia watchers think that Saudi Arabia’s chairing the forum could help the cause of women’s rights in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia itself and that will be a model for other conservative Islamic countries.

Interestingly, there were no rival candidates and no dissent either at the CSW’s annual meeting in New York. The idea was proposed by the group of Asia-Pacific States on the Commission.

Rights Groups Condemn

Human rights groups found it anomalous. How could the chair be given to Saudi Arabia when its women are manifestly deficient in rights, they asked.

Sherine Tadros, the head of the New York office of Amnesty International, told the The Guardian that whoever is in the Chair will be in a key position to influence the planning and decisions in the matter of women’s rights. This being so, the question that is asked is: What progress could one expect in the CSW’s activities with the highly patriarchal Saudi Arabia in the chair?

Counter Argument

But there may be sense in getting a conservative country like Saudi Arabia to lead an international women’s rights organization. Any advancement in women’s rights in the world can be meaningful only if the less advanced or progressive societies are made part of it. The best way to rope them in is by involving them and even giving the leadership to them.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) should not be condemned to be in a cocoon if there is to be global progress in women’s rights. It is particularly necessary to get the KSA involved because it is an acknowledged leader of the Islamic world.

Another thing that the progressive world has failed to acknowledge is that KSA is socially and culturally progressing under the stewardship of Crown Prince Mohamad bin Salman (MBS).

His “Saudi Vision 2030” is very progressive though it will not meet all the criteria of the West. Ultra conservative societies can only be gently and incrementally nudged to change.

Personal Status Law

KSA’s Personal Status Law (PSL) of 2022 is a case in point. The PSL is Shariah-based but is modified by modern judicial practices. It grants women the legal freedom to decide on who they will marry.

The legal guardian cannot prevent the marriage if the woman wants to marry someone who is equal to her. Women can file lawsuits and review their marriage contracts (see: https://www.roedl.com/insights/saudi-arabia-personal-status-law-reform-human-rights).

The spouses may demand the annulment of the marriage contract if one of them fails to fulfil an agreed condition. The wife has the right to unilaterally dissolve the marriage contract.

Marriage of persons of under 18 years of age is banned though the court can give consent to a lower age in some cases. Both the fiancé and the fiancée have the right to dissolve an engagement. The new law contains regulation of marriage from engagement to divorce including khul´o (Arabic word for the wife´s divorce request).

For the first time the law explicitly regulates that children´s custody is for the mother.The husband is obliged to provide food, shelter, clothing and other necessities for his wife, even if she is wealthy.

The new law strengthens the rights of divorced women who have raised children without financial support from the father of the child.  

Salman’s Vision 2030

In the last few years, Saudi Arabia has been slowly but steadily transforming itself from being a medieval anachronism to being a modern country under the tutelage of MBS.

The determined assertion of State power over religion under the Crown Prince has put KSA on the path to becoming a fully modern country by 2030 but without

losing its Islamic identity.    

Wahhabism, a puritanical form of Islam founded in Arabia in the 18 the. Century is still the official creed of the KSA, and Sharia is the basic law. But both have been refined to suit modern times.

MBS has acquired ascendency over the clerics and the latter accept his reforms. But he has taken care to see that the changes made are incremental and measured, so as not to upset the applecart.

The changes may seem piecemeal but they add up to a lot, say Yasmine Farouk and Nathan J.Brown, in their paper entitled: “Saudi Arabia’s Religious Reforms Are Touching Nothing but Changing Everything “ ( Carnegie Endowment for International Peace June 2021).