Human rights groups have condemned the appointment, sighting HR abuses in the Kingdom
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been appointed to an influential panel on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), in a move that has angered civil liberties organizations. The Sunni monarchy is often cited as one of the worst perpetrators of human rights abuses in the world, due to its high number of executions and its strict laws governing the behavior of women.
The appointment of Faisal Trad, the Saudi envoy to the UNHRC, to the position of chairperson of the Consultative Group would allow him influence over the selection of 77 key advisors to the council. This would enable Saudi Arabia to shape UN human rights discourse.
“The UN resolution that created the council in 2006 enacted membership criteria, that candidates be selected based on their human rights record… Yet with elected members today like China, Cuba, Russia, Qatar and Venezuela, the UN is showing contempt for its own rules,” Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, told The Media Line. Giving Saudi the chair of the Consultative Group exacerbated this problem Neuer argued, pointing out that the country had, “beheaded more people this year than (the Islamic State) ISIS.”
The UNHRC was formed to replace the UN Commission on Human Rights which had become discredited due to a large number of its members being delegates from countries with poor civil liberties records. The newer council has come under criticism on the same grounds. Its 47 members are selected based on geographic criteria, and hold their position for three years. The body is designed to advise the UN General Assembly and is held responsible for promoting and protecting human rights globally.
“Saudi Arabia has arguably the worst record in the world when it comes to religious freedom and women’s rights,” Neuer suggested. Women in the kingdom are required by law to wear a full body covering leaving only the eyes and hands bare, and are forbidden to drive or to leave the home unless escorted by a male chaperon. The oil rich state is a monarchy with the vast majority of political power held firmly in the hands of the Saud family.
“When it comes to the issues of basic freedoms – assembly and expression – on these issues in particular the Saudi Arabian record is abysmal,” Tom Coogle, Middle East researcher with Human Rights Watch, told The Media Line. Citizens can be prosecuted for anything they say that “crosses a red line,” and at the same time, “the death penalty is surging,” with 135 executions this year over 85 during the whole of 2014, Coogle noted.
Emblematic of the state of justice in Saudi Arabia is the case of Ali Al-Nimr, Coogle said. Al-Nimr was sentenced to death for crimes he is accused of committing during protests in 2011 while aged 17. A coerced confession, use of torture, violation of the right to a lawyer during interrogation, and the sentencing of a minor to execution, are just some of the issues marring Al-Nimr’s trial, the researcher suggested.
This comes at a time when Saudi Arabia is attempting to bolster its image by “trumpeting minor human rights reforms (like) votes for women” and by playing an active role in the international discourse on civil liberties at the UN, Coogle stated.
“We cannot believe that their presence (on the UNHRC) is from a real desire to contribute to the improvement of human rights at home, as such a desire from within the ruling family is missing,” Ali Adubishi, Director of the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights, told The Media Line. Within the ruling regime, the stability of the monarchy and the granting of civil liberties to the population are seen as entirely incompatible, Adubishi said. As such the rule of law has tightened over citizens since the start of the Arab Spring.
“Saudi has not only neglected human rights, but can also be described as a hostile State towards Human Rights and (as) supportive of tyranny and oppression, in (its) neighboring countries,” Adubishi said. The country’s envoy on the UNHRC is tasked with mitigating criticism and undermining efforts towards reforms within Saudi Arabia, Adubishi, who spent ten months in a Saudi jail before fleeing to Germany and seeking asylum, concluded. It was worth noting, the Saudi exile said, that human rights reforms had not improved under Saudi’s new monarch, King Salman, who took office in January 2015.
UN Watch went further, criticizing not just Saudi Arabia and its record on human rights but the UNHRC as a whole. “This UN appointment is like making a pyromaniac into the town fire chief, and underscores the credibility deficit of (the) human rights council,” Hillel Neuer said.