Human Rights in Saudi Arabia

 Hello readers, welcome back to the Middle East and North African human rights blog. This week we will be discussing the infamous case of human rights in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 

In the aftermath of WWI and the conquest of the House of Saud, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was established through the defeat of the former Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz (Knauerhase). After the establishment of the kingdom the discovery of large amounts of oil eventually made Saudi Arabia the among the most oil rich nations. With the country's oil wealth and involvement in regional conflicts, Saudi Arabia has developed a notorious record on human rights. Some of their most notable human rights violations include gender apartheid, labor exploitation, torture, and enforcing strict fundamentalist religious law. Other violations include. With regard to women’s rights, women are severely restricted in their movements, employment, legal protections, and expression. Until 2018, Women were not allowed to drive and women's rights activists continue to face unjust detention, torture, and harassment from security forces. Despite recent reforms, women must still gain permission from a male guardian to get married, leave prison, and obtain certain kinds of healthcare (World Report 2021). Women also face widespread discrimination in issues of divorce, family, domestic violence, and child custody. In regard to labor rights, migrant workers who make up a third of the country's population face discrimination, racism, and exploitation. Some of these abuses include forced labor, movement restrictions, and arrest. The Kafala system (like in other Gulf Countries) puts migrant laborers at the mercy of their employers who sponsor them. Their employers can confiscate passports, withhold wages, restrict travel, and force them to work against their will (Ten Ways). Religious discrimination is also common in Saudi Arabia with the Shia community facing discrimination in employment and with government services along with facing imprisonment and death sentences for activism (Ten Ways). In criminal justice, Saudi Arabia applies fundamentalist religious rules that include cruel punishment for crime along with unjust trials and detention (World Report 2021). Some of the punishments include flogging, amputations, and beheadings. Despite announcements of moderation of some of these practices, these methods of punishment continued to be the standard in Saudi Arabia. The country also has carried out extrajudicial executions, particularly against dissidents (Ten Ways). An infamous case was the murder of Washington Post Journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Turkey which was ordered by the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman. Saudi Arabia has a deplorable record on human rights which are not confined to its borders. The example of the Khashoggi murder and the country's intervention and blockade of Yemen which has led to one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world illustrate the reach of Saudi Arabia’s distain for human rights (World Report 2021). The recent reforms and image change of Saudi Arabia initiated by Mohammed bin Salman have largely been symbolic. Repression and draconian practices and policies still remain the norm within the country. The international community must apply pressure to change the country's practices and to protect dissidents who speak out and act against abuses committed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Citations

“World Report 2021: Rights Trends in Saudi Arabia.” Human Rights Watch, 13 Jan. 2021, https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/country-chapters/saudi-arabia. 

Knauerhase, Ramon. “Saudi Arabia: A Brief History.” Current History, vol. 68, no. 402, 1975, pp. 74–88. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/45313238. Accessed 15 Oct. 2022.

“Ten Ways That Saudi Arabia Violates Human Rights.” Amnesty International UK, https://www.amnesty.org.uk/saudi-arabia-human-rights-raif-badawi-king-salman.