Saudi Arabia Chairs 69th Session of UN Commission on the Status of Women… While Its Own Women Face Detention and Travel Bans

Saudi Arabia is presiding over the 69th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69), currently being held at the UN headquarters in New York.

This presidency comes as part of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to portray itself internationally as a supporter of women’s issues. However, this image sharply contradicts the domestic human rights reality faced by women inside the country, where many continue to suffer serious violations, including arbitrary detention, travel bans, and enforced disappearance.

Noura Al-Qahtani is currently serving a 45-year prison sentence for social media posts expressing her opinion. Meanwhile, Asma Al-Subaie, Reena Abdulaziz, and others remain in detention due to their peaceful human rights activism.

At the same time, Saudi authorities continue to impose travel bans on activists such as Salma Al-Shehab and Loujain Al-Hathloul, despite their release, as part of a systematic policy to restrict the movement of activists even after their release.

Sanad Human Rights Organization calls for this UN presidency to be accompanied by real internal reforms that restore Saudi women’s fundamental rights, foremost among them freedom of expression, movement, civil engagement, and above all, the release of all female prisoners of conscience. The organization stresses that global promotion of women’s empowerment must first be reflected in real change inside the country.