
Fury after Saudi Arabia 'chosen to head key UN human rights panel' - snowy
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/anger-after-saudi-arabia-chosen-to-head-key-un-human-rights-panel-10509716.html
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grej
It almost seems like someone in the UN is just trolling the world with this
pick.

Saudi Arabia's atrocious record on women's rights, and KSA's institutionalized
mistreatment of foreign workers (employers hold the passports of foreign
workers and can deny them exit visas in any dispute) are just two of a huge
number of other issues too voluminous to enumerate.

EDIT: Not to mention that in Saudi Arabia, conversion from Islam to any other
religion is officially punishable by death.

EDIT2: Just this week, a juvenile human rights protester in KSA had his appeal
denied, and will be executed by crucifixion:
[http://www.mintpressnews.com/saudi-arabia-juvenile-
prisoner-...](http://www.mintpressnews.com/saudi-arabia-juvenile-prisoner-
faces-death-by-crucifixion-after-appeal-is-dismissed/209642/)

It's difficult to conceive that a worse pick could possibly have been chosen.
The inmates running the asylum...

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jkot
It is just ridiculous. Saudi has capacity to accommodate 2 million people in
Mecca, but they would not accept single refugee from Syria. Instead they
offered to build hundreds of mosques in Germany and Europe, to export their
version of Islam.

Edit: Saudi accepted many refugees, so I would like to apologize.

~~~
phaemon
Saudi Arabia have claimed this is misleading. They say they have an open
border to Syria and have accepted over 2.5 million Syrians since 2011.

Is this claim incorrect?

~~~
jkot
Do you have source for 2.5? I only found 0.5M, but it seems like those are
expats who did not moved in recently.

> _There are 500,000 Syrians in Saudi Arabia, according to Nabil Othman,
> acting regional representative to the Gulf region at the UNHCR. In official
> documentation they are referred to as “Arab brothers and sisters in
> distress,” he said._

[http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-04/syria-s-
re...](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-04/syria-s-refugees-
feel-more-welcome-in-europe-than-in-the-gulf)

~~~
phaemon
They claim 2.5 million here:

[http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/09/19/saudi-
arabia-h...](http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/09/19/saudi-arabia-has-
taken-25m-syrians-claims-minister)

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gruez
This is the same country that declared atheists as terrorists.
([http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-
ar...](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-
declares-all-atheists-are-terrorists-in-new-law-to-crack-down-on-political-
dissidents-9228389.html))

Also, they tried to get a United Nations-backed ban on "blasphemy".
([http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/10/15/us-islam-
blasphemy-...](http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/10/15/us-islam-blasphemy-
idUSBRE89E18U20121015))

~~~
Strom
I dislike Saudi Arabia as much as the next sane person, but that "atheists are
terrorist" article is april fools. Look at the date.

~~~
darkr
Though the publication date of that article would suggest that it is an April
fools; it actually refers to an amendment made in March to a "royal decree"
announced in January[1] 2014 that defines as a terrorist act, punishable by
death:

“Calling for atheist thought in any form, or calling into question the
fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which this country is based.”

1: [https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/03/20/saudi-arabia-new-
terrori...](https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/03/20/saudi-arabia-new-terrorism-
regulations-assault-rights)

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themartorana
It's like letting oil companies run studies about environmental impact.

------
TorKlingberg
I remember there was a similar row a couple of years ago with an other country
with a bad human rights record. An argument then was that the position carries
little real power, but is a way for a country to show that they want to
improve their human rights, and other countries allow it as a way to put some
soft pressure on the selected country.

~~~
lotharbot
Libya in 2003:
[http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=5924](http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=5924)

------
caseysoftware
And at the same time, we have many in the US demanding that we support the UN
in all things.

It's disappointing that they put so much faith in an obviously broken
organization.. that is also completely unaccountable to its member countries
and the world as a whole.

------
gabbo
This is crazy. It would be like choosing America to head up the UN Social
Welfare Commission.

(edit: this was meant to be a mildly sarcastic zinger, if it wasn't clear)

