More
than 40 civil society organisations, including FORUM-ASIA and its
members, called on all the governments not to vote for Saudi Arabia to
be re-elected as a member of the UN Human Rights Council. Their letter here, sent on 28 April 2009, shows failures of the country not to
cooperate with the council. The election for new membership will take
place on 12 May.
More
than 40 civil society organisations, including FORUM-ASIA and its
members, called on all the governments not to vote for Saudi Arabia to
be re-elected as a member of the UN Human Rights Council. Their letter
below, sent on 28 April 2009, shows failures of the country not to
cooperate with the council. The election for new membership will take
place on 12 May.
Your Excellency:
On May 12, 2009, your government
will vote for new members to the UN Human Rights Council (Council).
We, the undersigned international human rights organisations, join human
rights groups from the Arab region in urging your government not to
vote in favour of the reelection of Saudi Arabia to the Council this
year.
The resolution establishing
the Council requires that its members "fully cooperate" with the
Council, including the independent human rights experts it appoints,
and "uphold the highest standards" of human rights. Saudi
Arabia meets neither of these two criteria.
Rather than "fully cooperate"
with the Human Rights Council, Saudi Arabia has:
- Rejected Recommendations
under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). Saudi Arabia's submission
to the UPR failed to provide meaningful factual information about human
rights violations in Saudi Arabia. The national report also contained no
pledge to accede to key human rights treaties. Furthermore, the Human
Rights Commission, a governmental entity which prepared the report,
stated that it had involved all nongovernmental stakeholders, but well-known
human rights activists reported to international human rights organisations
that the commission had not consulted them. The Saudi government delegation
gave limited and vague responses to the concerns raised by states during
the universal periodic review, dismissing criticisms as unfounded due
to a misunderstanding of Islam, Shari'a Law, and Saudi culture. Rather,
Saudi Arabia pointed to Shari'a and the Quran as evidence of Saudi
Arabia's commitment to human rights. While the rules of the review were
generally followed, Saudi Arabia summarily rejected numerous recommendations,
saying that they did "not conform to its existing laws, pledges, and
commitments or do not refer to existing practices in Saudi Arabia".
These included recommendations that the government withdraw its reservations
to CEDAW, ratify and implement the Optional Protocol to CEDAW, declare
a moratorium on the death penalty with a view toward abolishing it,
eliminate corporal punishment, and end the practice of incarcerating,
mistreating, and applying travel bans against individuals on the basis
of their political or religious beliefs. - Failed to accept
visits requested by numerous special procedures of the Council.
As of April 2009, Saudi Arabia has six outstanding requests for visits
from the Council's special procedures. Requests from the experts on
freedom of opinion and _expression, trafficking in persons, and extrajudicial,
summary or arbitrary executions all predate the formation of the Council.
Since Saudi Arabia joined the Council, the experts on torture and on
freedom of religion or belief and the working group on arbitrary detention
have also requested visits. Saudi Arabia has only accepted visits by
two special procedures to date: the special rapporteurs on the independence
of the judiciary (2002) and on violence against women (2008). - Failed to respond
to written requests from the Council and its experts. In the past
four years, Saudi Arabia has only responded to 13 of the 47 letters
of allegation and urgent appeal sent by the Council's experts. It
also responded to only one of the twelve questionnaires sent by Council
experts within the deadlines. The government facilitated the visit of
the special rapporteur on violence against women but failed to fully
cooperate with the rapporteur's follow-up questions. Yet, in its state
report to the Universal Periodic Review, the government incorrectly
stated that it "repl[ies] to all allegations received."
These repeated failures to
"fully cooperate with the Council" amount to an obstruction of its
legitimate work and undermine the Council's ability to effectively
protect human rights.
In addition, Saudi Arabia has
failed to ratify the two fundamental international human rights treaties:
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, despite official promises
since at least six years to do so.
Saudi Arabia's domestic record
similarly does not meet the Council's membership standards. Rights
to freedom of _expression, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion
and belief are not recognized in law and severely restricted in practice.
From 2007 to 2009, Saudi security forces have arrested and detained,
and courts have sentenced, persons for peaceful _expression of opinion
on internet websites, through private email, and in small public assemblies.
The domestic intelligence forces have held thousands of detainees without
charge or trial for over five years in some cases. Trials of terrorism
suspects begun in 2009 are conducted in secret, in summary fashion,
without legal representation for defendants and in violation of other
fair trial standards. Saudi Arabia is one of only five countries in
the world to retain the death penalty for children.
Government policy discriminates
against women, foreign workers, and religious minorities. The government
systematically suppresses the rights of 14 million Saudi women. Women
require permission of their male guardians to work, travel, study, marry,
receive health care or access public services and they are still not
allowed to drive. Strictly enforced sex segregation adds
to these barriers and hinders a Saudi
woman's ability to participate
fully in public life. At least 1.5 million women domestic migrant workers
suffer widespread abuses of their labor rights without the possibility
of redress and many are subject to frequent verbal, physical, and sexual
assault. Eight million migrant workers suffer discrimination in labor
practices and access to the justice system. Saudi religious minorities
cannot freely worship and suffer discrimination in employment, the education
and religion-based justice system.
Membership on the Human Rights
Council has not led Saudi Arabia to tangibly improve its human rights
record. During this election, we urge UN member states to make clear
to Saudi Arabia that to be considered a candidate, the government must
demonstrate tangible improvements in the worst areas of its human rights
record and step up its cooperation with the Council.
General Assembly members should
not consider Saudi Arabia's candidacy until the kingdom has demonstrated
its willingness to:
- Cooperate fully
with the special procedures of the Human Rights Council, and
ensure the procedures are strengthened within the Council. - Cease to restrict
freedom of _expression and association and peaceful assembly. - Ensure detainees
have the right to judicial review and to fair and transparent trials. - End the juvenile
death penalty. - End official discrimination
against women by abolishing the male guardianship system. - Improve migrant
workers' labor protections and conditions and their access to the
justice system, with particular attention paid to migrant domestic workers. - End official discrimination
against religious minorities and enact reforms to permit freedom of
religion and belief.
Excellency, support for Saudi
Arabia, despite its failure to respect human rights, would set a dangerous
precedent, and greatly undermine the legitimacy of both the Human Rights
Council and the General Assembly. Despite the current lack of alternative
candidates in Asia, we ask that you simply not write-in
Saudi Arabia on the ballot. By doing so, the General Assembly will send
an important message about protecting the integrity of the UN human
rights system, and give hope and encouragement to Saudi citizens in
their ongoing struggle for reform and human rights.
