Friday, June 17, 2011

Women activists prepare to defy Saudi Arabian driving ban



16 June 2011

"Saudi Arabian authorities must stop treating women as second-class citizens and open the Kingdom’s roads to women drivers, Amnesty International said today, as a group of women prepared to defy a decades-old driving ban.

An online campaign has called on women who hold international driving licences to start driving on Saudi Arabian roads on 17 June. The “Women2Drive” campaign has used Facebook and Twitter to encourage women to drive as part of their normal daily activities rather than converge in one place.

“Not allowing women behind the wheel in Saudi Arabia is an immense barrier to their freedom of movement, and severely limits their ability to carry out everyday activities as they see fit, such as going to work or the supermarket, or picking up their children from school,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“Saudi Arabian authorities must not arrest licensed women drivers who choose to drive, and must grant them the same driving privileges as men.

“This is just one example of so many areas of life where women in Saudi Arabia have their human rights and their agency denied.”

Saudi Arabian authorities have clamped down on recent attempts to defy the driving ban by women who hold international driving licences...."

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