Saudi Arabia chosen by United Nations Commission to chair the 69th session on the Status of Women in 2025

The 69th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women will be chaired by Saudi Arabia in 2025, as voted unanimously. Since the committee's founding in 1946, Ambassador Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Wasel would be the first permanent representative of Saudi Arabia to serve as its chair. After serving as ambassador and permanent representative of Saudi Arabia to the UN Office in Geneva since November 2016, Al-Wasel assumed his position as ambassador and permanent representative of Saudi Arabia to the UN headquarters in New York in July 2022.

One of the main UN bodies, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), is the source of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), a technical body. CSW has been referred to as the UN body advancing global women's empowerment and gender equality. 

The commission has given the women's movement a voice at the UN and created a special forum for the sharing of best practices and national experiences. It is focused on advancing women's status through work. The CSW holds yearly meetings to assess the advancements made in this area, adopts guidelines, and creates policies aimed at improving the lot of women globally.