United Nations human rights expert to assess status of women in Saudi Arabia

A human rights expert from the United Nations is to travel to Saudi Arabia to gather first-hand information on the status of women there, Reuters reported Monday.

According to the article, Yakin Erturk, a Turkish sociology professor and the Human Rights Council’s special rapporteur on violence against women, has been invited by Saudi Arabia to visit from February 4-13. During her trip she will meet government officials, rights advocates and women who have been victims of violence.

Eight years ago Saudi Arabia ratified a 1979 international bill of rights for women, but it added the proviso that any contradictions with Islamic law would result in the latter being observed. Currently, women in Saudi Arabia face harassment from police if they appear in public unaccompanied by a male relative, they are barred from driving, and the testimony of two women is equal to that of one man in court.

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