UN chief Guterres welcomes Saudi Arabia’s lifted ban on women drivers

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres welcomed Saudi Arabia’s decision to lift the ban on women drivers, calling it a positive move.

Guterres made this statement on Twitter after Saudi Arabia’s King Salman issued a historic royal decree granting driving licenses for women in the kingdom as of next June.

The royal decree issued on Tuesday also ordered the establishment of a high-level committee of involving the ministries of internal affairs, finance, labor and social development. They will be tasked with studying the arrangements of the edict within 30 days and to ensure the full implementation of the order by June 2018.

Similarly, speaking to Al Arabiya, Latifa Shaalan, a Saudi female member of Saudi Arabia’s Shoura Council said: “This is a great victory for many Saudi women. This was the one file and issue which Saudi women have fought not just years, but decades for. Every time we asked, we were told the time was not right. When we asked those previous from this men and women who said we didn’t need to drive, King Salman.”