Last week, members of the United Nations Economic and Social Council voted to approve Saudi Arabia as a member of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, Fortune reports. The panel, now made up of 45 countries, is "exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women." Many are upset with the decision, as official policy in Saudi Arabia forces gender segregation for those who aren't related, among other extreme policies and practices.

Hillel Neuer‏, the executive editor of UN Watch (a nongovernmental watchdog that monitors the United Nations), said that the inclusion of Saudi Arabia on the women's panel is like "making an arsonist into the town fire chief" and called it "a black day for women's rights, and for all human rights."

"Saudi discrimination against women is gross and systematic in law and in practice," Neuer said. "Every Saudi woman must have a male guardian who makes all critical decisions on her behalf, controlling a woman’s life from her birth until death. Saudi Arabia bans women from driving cars. Why did the U.N. choose the world’s leading promoter of gender inequality to sit on its gender equality commission?"

A U.N. press release announced that Saudi Arabia joined 12 other countries elected, via secret ballot, to a four-year term on the panel. Neuer concluded that at least five states in the European Union had voted for Saudi Arabia.

Saudi women are forbidden from obtaining a passport, marrying, or accessing higher education if a man does not approve, the 2016 Human Rights Watch World Report notes. The LGBTQ community in Saudi Arabia is also targeted — even mentioning gay relations on social media can lead to punishment by death.

The National Review reported that Saudi Arabia's joining the commission could be part of the country's recent push to appear as though it's trying to change its sexist image. Last month, the kingdom launched a "Girl's Council," but the panel was exclusively male. Princess Abir bint Salman is technically head of that council, but because of the strict Saudi sex-segregation laws, she was not physically at the council's first meeting and appeared only via video.

Related: Don't Bring Saudi Women Into Your (Misguided) Argument Against Feminism

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