The Saudi Association for Women’s Development Forum on Minority Issues Guaranteeing the Rights of Minority Women Geneva, 29th-30th November 2011 Article 5 of the Agenda: Minority women and their effective participation in economic, social and cultural life Introduction by: En’am Abdul Jalil El Asfour, the Saudi Association for Women’s Development, DOAA, Qatif. Thank you Madam President for giving me the opportunity to speak. Also, thank you High Commissioner for including us in our colleagues’ programme on minority rights. Madam President: The Eastern province, which has a Shia majority, is the largest natural reservoir for petroleum in the world. The Kingdom’s reliance on this region should give it exceptional importance within the economic and the national security system. However, it has given rise to a lot of suffering. The political elite feel that the presence of the country’s main source of wealth is in an area which is controlled by a “different denomination” is a serious cause for concern. Instead of the region experiencing a renaissance in growth and construction due to the pollution left by oil plants, Shia women experience systematic discrimination in economic, cultural and social life, which prevents them from being effective citizens in society. This discrimination is not documented in government files and is practised on a daily basis by all the official organisations in the country. Thus women belonging to the Shia minority are unable to prosecute the perpetrators, which makes matters even more complicated. This discrimination consists of: - Excluding the Shia region from sustainable development since its administrative borders are being reduced, which lessens the scope for development. - Failure to build housing units which would reduce housing pressures that forces the inhabitants to build on garages.