Riyadh tells UN it is working on human rights

Saudi Arabia is committed to working with the UN and other international bodies to improve human rights, one of the kingdom’s delegates to the UN said.

Speaking to the UN Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee in New York on Friday, Mohammed Khashan said the kingdom was undergoing major change in the areas of human rights and women’s empowerment.

He listed moves affecting security, health, women, children, people with disabilities and the elderly. He highlighted several changes in particular, such as the ruling this year to amend travel document regulation that “stipulates treating a man and a woman equally in terms of the conditions for obtaining passports”.

The kingdom recently revoked guardianship rules that meant women needed a male relative’s approval to travel.

“These new regulations are history in the making,” Princess Reema bint Bandar, the kingdom’s representative to the United States, who is Saudi Arabia’s first female ambassador, wrote on Twitter after the announcement. “They call for the equal engagement of women and men in our society.”

Mr Khashan also highlighted changes to labour law to forbid workplace sex discrimination.

The government has taken steps to increase women’s participation in the workforce, opening the army to female recruits and passing labour law changes that bring parity with men.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is at the forefront of change to reform society and the country’s conservative rules, modernise the economy and end its reliance on oil exports for state revenue.