In a move widely condemned by human rights advocates, Saudi Arabia, despite its severe record of oppressing women, has been appointed Chair of the UN Commission on the Status of Women for its 69th session. Critics, including UN Watch’s Executive Director Hillel Neuer, have called the decision “surreal” and a betrayal of women facing systemic discrimination under Saudi Arabia’s male guardianship system and restrictive laws. And although the country has introduced superficial reforms in recent years, feminist and human rights activists continue to face harsh repression, with some sentenced to decades in prison for advocacy. Thus, this appointment highlights deeper issues within the UN body and its historical failure in holding some of the world’s worst abusers of women’s rights accountable.