Saudi women being incited to reject their families, group says
BRITISH Prime Minister Theresa May is trying to win support for her EU divorce deal by promising that her government won’t try to water down environmental standards and workers’ rights after Brexit.
The commitment is an attempt to gain backing from opposition Labour Party MPs, who suspect the government plans to reduce the protections after Britain leaves the EU.
May’s deal has drawn opposition from both pro-EU and pro-Brexit lawmakers, and is facing likely defeat in Parliament today.
The prime minister used a speech yesterday to argue that the only alternatives to her deal were leaving the EU in March without an agreement, or reversing voters’ decision to leave the bloc. May said that a no-deal Brexit would hurt the British economy and “put the future of our Union at risk”, while failing to leave the EU would be “a subversion of the democratic process”.
Meanwhile, Manfred Weber, a German conservative who heads the biggest group in the European Parliament, has urged British MPs to “behave responsibly” and approve the UK’s divorce deal with the EU.
Weber said yesterday: “We ask, we invite our British colleagues to behave responsibly and vote for this agreement.”
A vote in the UK Parliament was expected today. Many British MPs object to the agreement between Brussels and May, raising fears that Britain may leave the EU on March 29 without a deal in place.
Weber said that MPs in London should accept the “extended hand” of their colleagues on the continent.
He said the European Parliament would approve the agreement.
Weber also slammed the far-right Alternative for Germany party’s threat to quit the EU, saying this could cause “a situation like in London today – economic instability and political chaos”.
The British government has published a letter from EU leaders that it hopes will ease UK MPs’ worries over the Brexit agreement between Britain and the bloc.
The letter to May from European Council president Donald Tusk and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker offered an assurance that the most contentious part of the deal – the “backstop” insurance policy to maintain an open border between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland – was intended as a temporary measure and “would only be in place for as long as strictly necessary”.
But the letter also reiterates the bloc’s refusal to renegotiate the divorce deal. The two men say “we are not in a position to agree to anything that changes or is inconsistent with the Withdrawal Agreement”. AN ORGANISATION backed by Saudi Arabia accused several foreign countries of inciting young women to reject their families, the first public comments from Riyadh since a woman claiming domestic abuse was granted asylum in Canada over the weekend.
The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) did not name 18-yearold Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, who grabbed international attention after barricading herself in a Bangkok airport hotel room and appealing for help on Twitter to resist being sent back to her family, which denies any abuse.
However, in a statement on Sunday, NSHR head Mufleh al-Qahtani accused unspecified countries and international organisations of pursuing political agendas and “pushing women ultimately to be lost and maybe to fall into the arms of brokers and human traffickers”.
While the NSHR said it was independent, the US State Department described it as “government-funded”.
Riyadh’s human rights record has been in the spotlight since the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at its Istanbul consulate in October. There has also been growing international criticism of the Saudi-led coalition’s air strikes in Yemen that have caused heavy civilian casualties.
The NSHR “was surprised by some countries’ incitement of Saudi female delinquents to rebel against the values of their families and push them out of the country and seek to receive them under the pretext of granting them asylum,” Qahtani said.
He did not name any country or the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which granted her refugee status.
Qunun arrived in Toronto on Saturday, wearing a hoodie emblazoned with the word Canada, and a cap bearing the UNHCR logo. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland welcomed her at the airport, calling her “a very brave new Canadian”.
Canada’s move comes amid tension with Riyadh after Ottawa demanded the release of jailed rights activists last year, prompting Saudi Arabia to expel its ambassador to Canada, recall Saudis living there and freeze new trade.
The case has also drawn attention to Saudi Arabia’s guardianship system, which requires women to have the permission of a male relative to travel, sometimes trapping them as prisoners of abusive families.