It almost seems like someone in the UN is just trolling the world with this pick.<p>Saudi Arabia's atrocious record on women's rights, and KSA's institutionalized mistreatment of foreign workers (employers hold the passports of foreign workers and can deny them exit visas in any dispute) are just two of a huge number of other issues too voluminous to enumerate.<p>EDIT: Not to mention that in Saudi Arabia, conversion from Islam to any other religion is officially punishable by death.<p>EDIT2: Just this week, a juvenile human rights protester in KSA had his appeal denied, and will be executed by crucifixion: <a href="http://www.mintpressnews.com/saudi-arabia-juvenile-prisoner-faces-death-by-crucifixion-after-appeal-is-dismissed/209642/" rel="nofollow">http://www.mintpressnews.com/saudi-arabia-juvenile-prisoner-...</a><p>It's difficult to conceive that a worse pick could possibly have been chosen. The inmates running the asylum...
It is just ridiculous. Saudi has capacity to accommodate 2 million people in Mecca, but they would not accept single refugee from Syria. Instead they offered to build hundreds of mosques in Germany and Europe, to export their version of Islam.<p>Edit: Saudi accepted many refugees, so I would like to apologize.
This is the same country that declared atheists as terrorists. (<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-declares-all-atheists-are-terrorists-in-new-law-to-crack-down-on-political-dissidents-9228389.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-ar...</a>)<p>Also, they tried to get a United Nations-backed ban on "blasphemy". (<a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/10/15/us-islam-blasphemy-idUSBRE89E18U20121015" rel="nofollow">http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/10/15/us-islam-blasphemy-...</a>)
I remember there was a similar row a couple of years ago with an other country with a bad human rights record. An argument then was that the position carries little real power, but is a way for a country to show that they want to improve their human rights, and other countries allow it as a way to put some soft pressure on the selected country.
And at the same time, we have many in the US demanding that we support the UN in all things.<p>It's disappointing that they put so much faith in an obviously broken organization.. that is also completely unaccountable to its member countries and the world as a whole.
This is crazy. It would be like choosing America to head up the UN Social Welfare Commission.<p>(edit: this was meant to be a mildly sarcastic zinger, if it wasn't clear)