Beyond parody.. but then the United Nations is comprised of over 50 Islamic states – the ruling majority in Assembly.

Video Report: Saudi Arabia, which has been labeled “the world’s most misogynistic regime” was recently elected to the U.N.’s Commission on the Status of Woman. The commission is “exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.”  The kingdom will serve on the commission from 2018-2022.

Commenting on the election, Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, said, “Electing Saudi Arabia to protect women’s rights is like making an arsonist into the town fire chief.” He called the election “a black day for women’s rights and for all human rights.”

Saudi ambassador Abdallah al-Mouallimi gives a victorious thumbs-up in to election onto the U.N. Security Council, in New York, October 17, 2013 (UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras)

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive. Every woman must have a male guardian, who must approve each life decision a woman makes, from schooling to career and from travel to health care. A woman’s guardian is typically her father or husband if she is married but could even be her underage son.

“Today the UN sent a message that women’s rights can be sold out for petro-dollars and politics,” Neuer added, “and it let down millions of female victims worldwide who look to the world body for protection.”

UN Watch quoted a tweet from a Saudi woman studying for a doctorate in international human rights in Australia who wrote succinctly, “I wish I could find the words to express how I feel right know. I’m ‘saudi’ and this feels like betrayal.”

This report first posted on Clarion Project here.