UN urges Saudi to boost women's rights ahead of driving

October 25: The UN urged Saudi Arabia to crack down on discrimination against women among other rights abuses today as the country braces for a weekend campaign that should see female activists defy a driving ban. The UN Human Rights Council adopted a report listing 225 recommendations for improvements earlier this week in Geneva during a Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the oil-rich kingdom's rights record. The report follows Saudi threats this week of a crackdown on activists who are expected to go ahead with a plan to get behind the wheel tomorrow in the world's only country that bans women from driving. Activists have used social networks to call on Saudi women to join the campaign. Many of the UN recommendations called on Riyadh to abolish a system requiring women to seek permission from male relatives to work, marry or leave the country, and one urged it to lift the ban. Saudi Arabia has until the next regular session on the council in March 2014 to respond to the recommendations presented during the UPR, which all 193 UN countries must undergo every four years. Bandar bin Mohammad al-Aiban, who heads Saudi Arabia's Human Rights Commission and led the country's delegation in Geneva, insisted during Monday's review that the country had made progress on women's rights. He pointed out that Saudi Arabia had allocated a minimum of 20 percent of seats on its Shura Council -- an advisory body that can propose law changes to the king -- to women. Today's UPR report also urged Saudi Arabia to do more to protect migrant workers and expressed deep concern over the country's continued use of the death penalty, including for crimes committed by minors