Saudi
Ban on Women
Driving Dodged
By CEDAW Chair
Amid Run for
Seats
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 11 --
Saudi Arabia
bans women
from driving,
while
running for
seats on the
UN Human
Rights
Council, and
Security
Council.
But
when Inner
City Press
asked the
chairperson of
the UN
Committee on
the
Elimination of
Discrimination
against Women,
Nicole Ameline
of
France, about
Saudi Arabia
and driving,
she said "I
cannot judge
the specifics
of that
country." This took
place last
year when
Inner City
Press asked
Ameline as
well,
click here.
It
would be one
thing of CEDAW
and its chair
has an across
the board
policy of
silence, at
least on
country-specific
situations.
But
earlier in
Friday's UN
press
conference,
when a
questioner
said the
women are
being abused
in Syria,
Ameline cut in
to say,
"Absolutely."
This
is the
politicization
of human
rights --
jumping on the
bandwagon
(how ever
that's said in
French) on
Syria, but
withholding
comment on
an ban on
women driving
in Saudi
Arabia.
The
UN
Correspondents
Association
president and
henchperson,
both on and
used by the
anti-Syria
bandwagon, for
example hosting
a faux
UN briefing by
Syria rebel
Ahmad al Jarba,
did not ask
about Saudi
Arabia,
instead
name-dropping
the World
Economic Forum
in Davos and
being
"president"
(without a
contested
election) of
UNCA -- just
as Saudi
supported
Ahmad al Jarba
is "president"
of the
Syria
Coalition or
even, France
says, of
Syria.
Last
year,
Inner City
Press asked
Ameline of
there would be
any help to
Central
African
Republic to
file its
report.
This year,
asked again,
it appears
not: CAR has
still not
reported.
(Ameline
referred to
rape
in "Republic
of Congo,"
which we take
to mean
"Democratic
Republic of
Congo,"
another
blindspot in
the Un's
view).
And
what ever came
of the proposal
to move a
session of
CEDAW out of
New
York to
Nairobi, which
Ameline
complained
about and
opposed last
year?
Inner City
Press asked
this question
on Friday
twice, once
even
in French --
but still no
answer.
To
be fair,
Ameline seems
like a nice
person. And
she did,
pressed, go
on to say in
French she
hoped women
would get to
drive (or
"conduire").
But to cut in
to judge one
country, while
dodging a
question about
the ban on
women driving
in another
country,
is not fair.
It is the
politicization
of human
rights. Watch
this
site.
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