Labour Lashes Islamic Treatment of Women

international | rights, freedoms and repression | other press Tuesday February 14, 2006 17:24 by pat c

At last some backbone is shown by one of the larger parties. Labour have stood up against Islamic Fundamentalism. In the piece below, Liz McManus criticises the way the President was allowed to address a\meeting in Saudi Arabia where women were kept behind an opaque screen.

Women are treated like animals in Saudi Arabia where the mullahs \wield abnsolute power. This is what the Irish mullahs dream of.

pat

Issued : Monday 13 February, 2006
Statement by Liz McManus TD
Labour Deputy Leader & Spokesperson on Health

The Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Liz McManus TD, has criticised arrangements agreed by the government for the official visit of President McAleese to Saudia Arabia.

Deputy McManus said that it was simply unacceptable that the President of our country should have been required to address the Jeddah Economic Forum where, according to reports, women were required to arrive through a separate entrance to sit, unseen, behind a Perspex screen.

“There is simply no way in which an Irish President would be expected to address such a meeting where a significant section of the population were discriminated against in this way on the grounds of race or religion. Why should discrimination on the grounds of gender be any more acceptable?

“The arrangements for this meeting are offensive not just to the majority of Irish women but to the majority of Irish citizens.

“Responsibility for this situation rests with the government which, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, makes all arrangements – down to the finest detail - for state visits of this nature.

“The treatment of women at the Jeddah Economic Forum is just symptomatic of the wider discrimination against women in Saudi society. Women are still prevented – in most cases – from voting in elections. According to Amnesty International, ‘discriminatory practices against women are not only prevalent, they are also in some cases required by law’.

“The failure of the wider international community to make the shocking treatment of women in Saudi Arabia an international issue is no excuse for an Irish government approving arrangements which appears to give approval to what amounts to a form of apartheid for women.

“Twenty years ago the system of apartheid in South Africa appeared almost unbreakable. Instead a combination of external international action combined with organised internal opposition brought it crashing down.

“Democrats all over the world have a duty to stand with Saudi women and demand and end to these discriminatory practices. Equal treatment for women and men is a fundamental principle of international human rights standards.”