Thurayya Obeid: The first Saudi woman to acquire a post at the UN
Saudi Arabia, Culture, 4/19/2001

The executive director of the UNFPA Thurayya Ahmad Obeid has stressed that Saudi Arabia has entered the cycle of dialogue with the outer world by signing the two agreements on the rights of the child and banning all forms of discrimination against women.

Obeid explained that " with the exception of certain reservations which Saudi Arabia finds violate the rules of the Islamic religion and certain traditions of social dimensions like maintaining equality between the man and the woman in inheritance, Saudi Arabia has approved all provisions of the agreement pertaining ( to the woman). A matter which enables Saudi Arabia from expressing itself and joining direct international cooperation with other states."

In her statement which was made in Jeddah in the presence of princess Hessa al-Shaalan, wife of the Saudi crown prince and princess Sarah al-Anqari wife of the district of Mecca and before more than 700 women who came from various Saudi cities, Obeid asserted the need of the Saudi presence at various UN committees so as to be able from explaining its positions concerning all debated issues.

She remarked several changes taking place in Saudi Arabia " A matter which evokes optimism and confidence in a better future." She said that despite the fact that the UNFPA has plans to raise its services capabilities to cover 745 million couples in the year 2015 ( currently it is 485 million couples ( wife and a husband ), however, the question of population is basically concentrated on the quality rather than quality.

Worthy mentioning that Thurayya Obeid is the only Saudi and Arab woman who acquires such a high position at the UN. She started her job in 1975 and worked in many Arab states starting in Lebanon by the beginning of the civil war there and then in Iraq during its war with Iran and then in Jordan and later returned back to Lebanon. In 1998 she started her work at the UN headquarters in New York, until she became the UNFPA in January this year.

Obeid who was born in 1945 was the first Saudi woman was delegated in a government scholarship at the expense of the Saudi government.

Previous Stories:
  Saudi Arabia human rights record   (3/10/2001)
  Saudi Arabia will not permit women to drive a car   (1/26/2001)
  The first Saudi women to assume a high post at the UN   (10/26/2000)

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