Department of Redundancy Department: Muslim Women 'Face Crisis Over Violence'

Sure, they can complain all they want bu nobody will do anything until they admit the obvious: Islam is a religion or misogyny and enslavement. You complain and you catch a beating. You file for divorce and it's off with your head. And these are the people who lecture us about human rights and tolerance.

MUSLIM women around the world are facing a "growing crisis" as Islamic governments fail to honour commitments to end inequality and violence against them, a senior UN official has warned.

Yakin Erturk, the UN's rapporteur on violence against women, said that women must demand their governments carry out pledges to grant equal rights and ensure their safety.

"There is no time left to lose any more as this is a growing crisis," she said after a speech which dealt with the issue at an international conference on "Equality and Justice in the Muslim Family."

"Women must demand that their governments implement agreements on women's equality, rights and an end to violence against women, which have been signed but have yet to be carried out," she said.

"In these countries, those who speak on behalf of Islam still justify things like stoning or killing a woman for this or that reason as being part of their religion. I have heard this at the most official of levels," Erturk said without specifying which countries were to blame.

"Of course violence against women is not limited to Islamic countries but Islamic countries have become stigmatised as being mysogynist societies which are inherently anti-women."

There we go with the excuse-making again about violence not limited to Muslim countries. Sure, but in other countries it's not codified as part of their religion and laws, either. In most other countries on the planet violence against women is treated seriously.

In some Muslim countries, however, women are subjected to prison and lashes for being gang-raped.

A little bit of a difference.

UN to Saudis: Leave the Paleolithic Era Behind You

Good luck with this project, folks. Heck, the ladies can't even get a red rose on Valentine's Day, so how on earth are these cavemen going to start granting rights to women?

Although the UN is only a few decades late, at least they're finally paying lip service to this issue.

Saudi Arabia must create laws to protect women from violence and also allow them to play a bigger role in society and the workplace, the United Nations said on Thursday.

"The lack of written laws governing private life constitutes a major obstacle to women's access to justice," said Yakin Erturk, the U.N.'s human rights expert on violence against women.

In a statement she called on Saudi Arabia to create a legal framework based on international human rights standards, including a law criminalizing violence against women.

That would also include a family law on marriage, divorce and minimum age for marriage, said the Turkish sociology professor at the end of a 10-day visit to Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally and the world's top oil exporter.

"The need to address women's rights will grow increasingly urgent as the voices of women in Saudi society are heard," she said.

The treatment of women has become an increasing embarrassment for Saudi Arabia. The country drew international criticism after its Supreme Judicial Council condemned a 19-year-old woman to 200 lashes and six months in jail for having been with a man she was not related to when she was attacked and raped by seven other men in 2006.

King Abdullah pardoned the gang-rape victim in December.

Erturk said Saudi Arabia's system of male guardianship for women limits women's freedom of movement and ability to act in a whole range of family and social areas, from marriage, divorce and child custody to inheritance, education and employment.

Of course, the oil ticks will probably tell the UN to mind their own business, then go home and beat their wives tonight.