Saudi Arabia's head of human rights dispels Western misconceptions around school segregation
'I can tell you that we received a lot of harsh criticism on segregating schools,' H.E. Dr. Hala bint Mazyad Al-Tuwaij said on stage in Riyadh at Fortune's Most Powerful Women International Summit.
'But actually, those of us who come from this part of the world know that if schools were mixed, many conservative families would not have sent their girls to school in the first place,' she added.
Al-Tuwaijri has been president of the Saudi Arabia Human Rights Commission, with the rank of minister, since September 2022. It's a job that, if it weren't for same-sex classes, she may not have been able to work up to.
'Many of the educated women you see today, including myself, would not be sitting here because our families back then would not have accepted the fact that we'll be sitting next to boys in high schools.'
Before joining the world of work, Al-Tuwaijri earned a bachelor's degree in English literature in 1998, a master's degree in English literature and drama in 2004, and, in 2011, a Ph.D. in American literature and drama all from King Saud University. Looking back, she says the qualifications prepared her for her current role.
'For people who know a bit about studying literature, it's not about reading stories,' Al-Tuwaijri said. 'Actually, behind every story, there is a culture, history, philosophy, ideas …'
'My focus has always been on the issue of identity,' she said. 'What shapes people's identity and what actually informs the literature they write, whether it's theater, or performance, or art in general—and that, of course, took me to study the sociopolitical context of these areas, and the ideas, and the philosophical background to where all of this is coming from and where it's taking.'
'So, without knowing, I was actually preparing myself for looking into a more global platform of issues pertaining to identity, rights, stories, and all of that.'
After graduating, Al-Tuwaijri joined KSU's staff as a lecturer and also worked as an assistant professor of English literature at the university. She worked her way up to vice chair of the English language department.
Before becoming president of the Saudi Human Rights Commission, with the rank of minister, she was secretary-general of the Family Affairs Council.
'My career has been crowned and honored by this great country and our wise leadership, who celebrated women, elevated their status, and paved the way for their advancement,' she told Arab News soon after the appointment.
Of her new role, Al-Tuwaijri said: 'Saudi Arabia has made great and honorable strides in the field of human rights, and the testimony of just countries and organizations is the best proof.'
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Hamilton Spectator
20 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Senator says U.S. tariffs from Trump White House damaging for Washington state
Opponents from Washington state of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats against Canada are vowing to fight, saying the ongoing trade war has delivered a heavy blow to American border communities. In a conference call led by Democrat U.S. Senator Patty Murray that included British Columbia Premier David Eby, Murray said regions such as Whatcom County bordering Canada get about 12 per cent of taxable retail income from Canadian consumers. Murray said the drop in Canadian tourists visiting her state has also resulted in economic uncertainty among ferry operators and in Point Roberts, where residents cannot access the U.S. mainland without travelling through Canada. Eby said it is difficult to continue asking British Columbians to keep their money in Canada but the U.S. boycotts are necessary in the trade war despite circumstances being 'miserable' on both sides of the border. Earlier this week, Eby responded to statements by the U.S. Ambassador to Canada who called Canadians mean and nasty over their travel and alcohol boycott, saying Canadians would be 'proud' to be considered mean for standing up for their sovereignty. Edmund Schweitzer, founder of Washington-based digital device maker Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, said during the conference call that his company is predicting the tariffs will cost it US$100 million in 'unanticipated federal taxes.' Schweitzer said that means each of the 7,000 employees who co-own the company will take a financial hit of US$14,000 from the tariffs. 'President Trump seems to have created the 51st state that he was talking about, which is the great state of uncertainty,' he said Wednesday. 'And this is affecting all of us.' Murray said she is working in the U.S. Congress to bring Democrats and Republicans to join in the fight to wrestle back the power to set tariffs from the White House and urges other Americans to join the cause. 'Who is responsible for this, and we all need to remember this, is the president of the United States who started this,' Murray said. 'We are raising our voices to say, 'Enough is enough … stop this.' B.C. is among several Canadian provinces that banned the sale of U.S. alcohol from government-run stores after the trade war began, and industry groups say such sales in Canada have fallen sharply in March and April. Statistics Canada figures show the number of Canadians returning home by car from south of the border fell to just over 33 per cent in June compared with the same period last year, and return trips by air fell to just over 22 per cent during the same period. 'No one wants this,' Murray said of the falling numbers and economic uncertainty. 'We did not ask for this. It's been imposed on us. And I think that the premier is making it clear he has to make it painful for the United States. 'That doesn't change our relationship with British Columbia. We've always been friends, allies. We have had challenges in the past, but we talk to each other. We work through it, and that's what we both want at the end of this.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 23, 2025.


UPI
21 minutes ago
- UPI
French President Macron, wife sue podcaster over claims first lady born a man
French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte (L), greet King Frederik X and Queen Mary of Denmark at the Elysee Palace in Paris on March 31. File Photo by Maya Vidon-White/UPI | License Photo July 23 (UPI) -- French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, on Wednesday filed a defamation suit in the United States against right-wing podcast host Candace Owens, who claims the first lady was born a man. The 22-count complaint, which was filed in Delaware Superior Court, seeks unspecified damages. The 219-page lawsuit also named her company, Candace Owens LLC, and the operator of her website, GeorgeTom, Inc. During an eight-part series, called "Becoming Brigitte," she alleged Brigitt Macron had assumed another person's identity and transitioned to a woman. Emmanuel Macron is 47 and his wife is 72. "These claims are demonstrably false, and Owens knew they were false when she published them," the lawsuit said. "Yet, she published them anyway. And the reason is clear: it is not the pursuit of truth, but the pursuit of fame." The lawsuit said a retraction was sought three times, including a final one on July 1. The lawsuit said she continued to push "outlandish, defamatory, and far-fetched fictions" against the couple. "Ms. Owens' campaign of defamation was plainly designed to harass and cause pain to us and our families and to garner attention and notoriety," they said. "We gave her every opportunity to back away from these claims, but she refused. It is our earnest hope that this lawsuit will set the record straight and end this campaign of defamation once and for all." A spokesperson for Owens said to CBS and CNBC: "Candace Owens is not shutting up. This is a foreign government attacking the First Amendment rights of an American independent journalist. Candace repeatedly requested an interview with Brigitte Macron. "Instead of offering a comment, Brigitte is resorting to trying to bully a reporter into submission. In France, politicians can bully journalists, but this is not France. It's America." Owens also responded to the suit live on YouTube, calling it public relations strategy. "This is why you're here," she said. "This is how I feel right now. My receiving my papers today." She has 4.48 million subscribers on her YouTube channel. The Macrons have been married since 2007, 10 years before he became president. "People end up believing them, and it disrupts your life, even in your most private moments," Macron said at an event in Paris in 2024. Owens began making the allegations in March 2024 when she was working for The Daily Wire, a conservative media outlet, after the rumors first surfaced in 2021. After she was terminated by The Daily Wire, she launched her podcast in June 2024. In December, the Marons sent their first retraction demand. Then, she launched the podcast series. On July 2, she published a letter from the Macrons' attorney Clare Locke to her lawyer demanding the retraction. "If ever there was a clear-cut case of defamation, this is it," attorney Tom Clare told CNBC. In 2022, Brigitte Macron sued two French women for spreading similar claims. Macrons won the original case but this year the women were victories on appeal with the lawsuit going to a higher court. Owens said in June that she was wrong to campaign for Donald Trump in the 2024 election after the U.S. became involved in the Israel-Iran conflict. "He's been a chronic disappointment," Owens said during an appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored. "And I feel embarrassed that I told people to go vote for him because this wasn't going to happen, and it is happening."

Politico
21 minutes ago
- Politico
Tucker Carlson's view of the Epstein saga
PROMISES MADE — The Jeffrey Epstein saga has President Donald Trump 'furious' and House Republicans sprinting away from Washington for an early recess. Trump has tried everything in an attempt to distract attention from the matter — calling the entire affair a 'hoax,' releasing thousands of files related to Martin Luther King Jr., even diving back into the settled issue of the name of Washington's NFL team. But the issue is showing no signs of burning out. CNN reported Tuesday on newly uncovered archived video footage and photos of the president's ties to the deceased financier. Just today, The Wall Street Journal published a piece alleging that the Justice Department told Trump in May that his name appeared multiple times in the so-called Epstein files. Some of Trump's biggest backers — and many of the most important conservative influencers — have been at best unenthusiastic, and at worst antagonistic, about how Trump has handled the situation. One such figure is the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who has fashioned himself into something of a kingmaker among the new right, a more libertarian-leaning segment of MAGA that's concerned with immigration and the end of American involvement in wars overseas. From his home in Maine, Carlson wields significant cultural cachet and attracts a wide audience to his web-based interview show, enabling him to establish something of an intellectual vanguard for the movement. He's an avowed Trump supporter, but on Epstein, he thinks the White House is missing something. Carlson sat down with Paul Ronzheimer of the German newspaper Bild — which, like POLITICO, is owned by Axel Springer — for a wide ranging interview at his home in Maine on July 17. He discussed everything from the war in Ukraine to his family to why he thinks many journalists are bitter and jaded. He also expounded on Epstein — while the interview took place almost a week ago, many of Carlson's answers illuminate the forces that have given the controversy such staying power. Below is an excerpt from their discussion, edited for POLITICO Nightly. The German version of the interview can be found here. Ronzheimer: I want to talk about the Epstein case. Carlson: I didn't know him, thank heaven. So what is going on inside the MAGA movement right now? Oh boy, I have no idea. What we do know is there was this guy who got indicted twice, convicted once, of sex crimes, and he was a sex weirdo. Lots of those. I worked in television. I know quite a few. So we know that. What we don't know is what was he doing and how did he get hundreds of millions of dollars? He didn't apparently execute any trades on Wall Street. He was not a trader. Didn't work on Wall Street. So where did the money come from? And what was the point of this? He had heads of state and ... high-level political leaders in his house all the time and there was sex involved and there are a lot of allegations which may or may not be true. I can't assess what he was doing and why and we don't have answers on that. But I think we know enough that people are insistent on getting answers. And then there's a question of: How did he die? It's pretty clear he did not kill himself, sorry. Do you think Trump is nervous about it? I don't know, I can't say. But I can say that normal people, non-crazy people, have a great desire to know these answers, and I think have an expectation that they're due these answers. It's their right to know. Their government was involved. And I also think bigger than that — and this is something that maybe not everyone at the White House understands, though I think they will — it's a metaphor. It represents something bigger than it is. I personally don't think the fate of nations rises or falls on the questions of Jeffrey Epstein. I just don't. Okay? But I do think the fate of nations rises and falls on the question of who's really in charge, who's making these decisions and why. So there is a widespread belief in the United States and it's true, it's rooted in reality, that a lot of [what we hear from the government] is fake. It's an illusion. Why can't we know? In our system, the people rule. We have a representative democracy in which we elect people to work on our behalf. They work for us. We own this country. We're shareholders. We're not just passing through, we're not renting it, we own it. That's the American system. And so if you can't get a straight answer from your government about what the government's doing, and there's clearly no national security implications — some pedophile, how is that a national security question? It's not. Then you start to wonder, what the hell is this? Who's running it? Donald Trump ran for president on the promise that he would tell us, and that he'd end corruption in Washington. Now, that's a big promise. Every large organization is corrupt by its nature. D.C. is the largest organization, therefore it's the most corrupt. That's just a fact. Can one man fix that? No. But you have to make a good faith effort. And so people understood that when Trump got there and they voted for him for this reason, that they would learn what their government was doing. Not just about Epstein, and not just about JFK or RFK or MLK or the historic murders that are still unsolved, but about like, where does all the money go? Why is the Pentagon getting a trillion dollars? Where does that money go exactly? So, are Trump supporters disappointed? I don't know, Trump, look, I think my impression is that — I'm trying to be diplomatic here. I can feel that. With Trump, you're diplomatic, with other topics, not so much. Yeah, that's true, because I know Trump. I know him well enough to know that and have known him for so long and I've talked to him so much that I know that he agrees fundamentally with the idea that the system is corrupt and the way that it continues to be corrupt is through secrecy. And that you have to air this stuff. You have to tell people what's going on and take the hit, and that's okay. You know, we all screw up. There are things about me I seek to hide. I love pizza, or whatever. That's okay, but you have to be honest at a certain point, or it doesn't get better. That's just kind of a basic human principle, and I know that Trump agrees with that. I don't mean to be cagey. I don't really understand what the hell is going on, if I'm being honest, I really don't. And I haven't talked to him about it. I haven't called over there and asked, 'what the hell's going on?' By the way, I don't think Trump had anything to do with Epstein, he knew Epstein. But I would be sincerely shocked if there was some weird sex stuff with Trump. I just don't believe that. I've talked to Trump about it, I know him well. What did he say? I think he said this publicly. He said Epstein was always in Mar-a-Lago freeloading and hitting on the massage therapist and he kicked him out. Does that sound realistic to you? It does. Whatever Trump's sins, I have never gotten a creepy vibe off him at all. And you ask any woman who's been around him — because women know, they get the creepy vibe way better than men do, or at least than I do. And I've asked a number of women, do you get a creepy vibe off of him? You could smell it if someone's got weird sex shit going on underneath the surface. I've never gotten that vibe off Trump at all. And every woman I've ever asked didn't get that at all [Ed note: over 25 women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct.]. So I could be completely wrong, but I would be shocked. And by the way, this information, if it exists, would have been in the hands of the Biden administration during the last presidential campaign. You think they wouldn't have leaked it? Again, I could have been wrong, but I just don't believe it. And so what is this [situation with Epstein]? I don't really know. You do get in a vacuum when you're at the top of whatever pyramid, and I don't think they fully understand how this is being read on the outside. We're a few days into this, get back to me in a month and I'll have a better sense. We will all have a sense of what this is, but I think it's a big deal. Not because of Epstein, but because of what he represents. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@ Or contact tonight's author at cmchugh@ or on X (formerly know as Twitter) at @calder_mchugh. What'd I Miss? — Florida judge denies DOJ request to unseal Epstein grand jury transcripts: A federal judge in Florida has rejected one of the Justice Department's bids to make public secret grand jury transcripts from the investigation of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg concluded she was required to dismiss the department's request because of longstanding grand jury secrecy rules that include only a few narrow exceptions — none of which she said the Justice Department met in this case. — The firing of a veteran prosecutor in New Jersey escalates Trump administration's war with the courts: The Trump administration opened a new front in its war with the courts this week — and fired a veteran federal prosecutor in the process — in a dramatic tussle over the New Jersey U.S. Attorney's Office. Now it's not clear who is in charge. Federal judges exercised a 160-year-old power to select a temporary prosecutor on Tuesday to lead the office, following President Donald Trump's failure to win quick Senate confirmation for his pick: his former personal lawyer Alina Habba. Within hours, Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy Todd Blanche unloaded on the group of mostly Democratic-appointed judges and their pick, Desiree Leigh Grace, a registered Republican who was, until this week, the top career prosecutor in the office. — Gabbard declassifies new docs in latest push to cast doubt on Russia assessment: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified documents today she claims prove intelligence officials in the Obama administration lied about Russia's efforts to influence the 2016 election. The 44-page review of how U.S. spy agencies under then-President Barack Obama arrived at their conclusions was led by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee and ordered in the aftermath of Donald Trump's win over Hillary Clinton in 2016. The move comes days after Gabbard released a separate tranche of documents on the 2016 election that she claimed showed evidence that senior intelligence officials under Obama had mounted a 'years-long coup' to undermine Trump and were guilty of a 'treasonous conspiracy.' — State Department launches new investigation into Harvard: The State Department will investigate Harvard University's eligibility to sponsor international students and researchers, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced today, the latest attempt by the Trump administration to pressure the Ivy League university. 'The American people have the right to expect their universities to uphold national security, comply with the law, and provide safe environments for all students,' Rubio said in a statement. 'The investigation will ensure that State Department programs do not run contrary to our nation's interests.' The State Department is probing the Exchange Visitor Program at Harvard, which allows the school to bring international students, researchers and faculty to the university for temporary periods. — Judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia released from criminal custody: One of the Trump administration's highest-profile deportation targets, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, must be released from criminal custody in Tennessee and returned to Maryland and cannot be immediately redetained by immigration authorities, a pair of federal judges ruled Wednesday. The rulings are victories for Abrego, a Salvadoran man who entered the U.S. illegally and has lived in Maryland for about a decade. But they may be short-lived: Immigration enforcement officials signaled that he's likely to be re-detained when he arrives in Maryland. AROUND THE WORLD ILLEGAL INACTION — Governments can be held legally responsible for climate inaction, the world's highest court said in a landmark decision today, opening the door to a cascade of lawsuits. In the first decision of its kind, the International Court of Justice held that existing international law obliges all countries — whether they are party to the 2015 Paris climate accord or, like the United States, quitting the treaty — to fight global warming. MACRONS SUE OWENS — French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, have sued American hard-right podcaster Candace Owens for defamation, alleging that the influencer profited off of spreading a false rumor that the French first lady was born a biological male. In their suit, filed in Delaware state court, the Macrons allege that Owens has 'used this false statement to promote her independent platform, gain notoriety, and make money,' including launching an eight-part podcast series called 'Becoming Brigitte,' in which she pushes various conspiracy theories about the Macrons and their relationship. EU WARNS UKRAINE — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has put his country's EU ambitions in jeopardy, top European politicians warned today. Zelenskyy signed a controversial bill into law Tuesday that critics say nixes the independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption watchdogs, sparking protests around the country for the first time since Russian tanks rolled over the border in February 2022. Top EU leadership has now urged Zelenskyy to prove he is still committed to European democratic values after signing the inflammatory law, which European allies said threatens to fatally undermine Ukraine's ongoing bid to join the bloc. Nightly Number RADAR SWEEP LEGOLAND COMES TO CHINA — Earlier this month, the first Legoland in China opened in Shanghai. The theme park is the latest attempt by the Chinese government to boost domestic and international tourism and consumer spending, which has been lagging since the pandemic. Local government officials hope that Legoland and planned Harry Potter and Peppa Pig theme parks will be able to compete with dominant Disney and Universal Studios. Tax breaks and new public transportation lines are being used to draw fans and investors to the new attractions. Osmond Chia reports on theme park expansion for BBC News. Parting Image Jacqueline Munis contributed to this newsletter. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here.