JEDDAH — President of the Human Rights Commission Dr. Awwad Bin Saleh Al-Awwad emphasized that the Kingdom under the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman — may God protect them — has given great attention to the empowerment and protection of women at an accelerated pace. The Kingdom has attained many achievements with regard to the implementation of women's rights at the national level through the various statutory and institutional frameworks that have been approved to promote and advance women's rights in accordance with the Kingdom's international obligations in this area. On the occasion of the International Women's Day, celebrated every year on the March 8, Dr. Al-Awwad said that women have obtained the lion's share of the human rights reforms adopted by the Kingdom's Vision 2030, which states: "Saudi women are an important element of our strength. They constitute more than 50 percent of the total number of university graduates. We will continue to protect them, develop their talents and invest their energies to enable them to obtain appropriate opportunities to build up their future and contribute to the development of our society and our economy". Al-Awwad stressed that the current changes in the field of women's rights and empowerment have received global attention. The World Bank Report, which is entitled "Women, Business and the Law 2020," has indicated that the Kingdom has achieved an unprecedented leap in the field of empowering women and preserving their rights, and has been classified as the top reformer and improver among (190) countries around the world. The Report places the Kingdom first among Gulf Cooperation Council countries and second in the Arab world. In addition, Riyadh was declared as the capital of Arab women for the year 2020 under the slogan "Women is a homeland and ambition". Al-Awwad stressed that the said report and declaration represent a fair culmination, by the World Bank and the Arab Women's Committee, of the efforts and reforms implemented by the Kingdom to empower women in many areas. Al-Awwad concluded his statement by affirming that the Kingdom, led by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the Crown Prince, is greatly concerned with the human rights file, and particularly with women's rights. Of more than 60 decisions on human rights, women were the focus of more than one third of these decisions, namely 22 decisions. Accordingly, the Saudi woman is now witnessing a new era of empowerment, as a key partner in the process of building and sustainable development of our dear country, especially that women are the basic element in achieving success for our society and building its future.
