Saudi Arabia is on the brink of being elected on to the United Nation’s Human Rights Council, warn campaigners, in a move they say would undermine its ability to demand justice for rights violations and would feel like a “slap in the face” to the many victims of the Saudi regime.
While the Saudi Arabian government has attempted to present itself as a reformed country that has made progress on gender equality and human rights, its record on both has been fiercely criticised by activists.
Saudi border guards have been accused of killing hundreds of Ethiopians as they sought to cross from Yemen in 2022-23 in what critics have said may amount to a crime against humanity, while the country has still not accounted for the 2018 murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
More than 198 people have been executed in the country so far this year – the highest total since 1990 – including individuals described as political protesters by Amnesty International.
The regime has also handed down long prison sentences to a number of women, often in secret trials, after they used social media to advocate for more rights and freedoms for women.
One of those, Manahel al-Otaibi, 30, had used social media to call for an end to rules dictating that women needed the permission of a male relative to marry or travel. She was later accused of leading a propaganda campaign to incite girls to denounce religious principles and rebel against customs, and sentenced to 11 years in prison.
To the dismay of human rights groups, Saudi Arabia was chosen in March to chair a UN commission that is supposed to promote gender equality and empower women around the world.
On Wednesday, the UN general assembly is due to select 18 new members for three-year terms on the Human Rights Council beginning in January 2025. Human rights groups say there is little competition for places.
Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch, said: “A Saudi victory would be a slap in the face to the many victims of Saudi abuses, not least the hundreds of Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers killed trying to cross the Yemen-Saudi border, the victims of war crimes by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, and the family of Jamal Khashoggi.
“If Saudi Arabia wins a seat, council members that value human rights should work hard to prevent it and other abusive governments from undermining the council’s work to expose and address rights violations the world over,” he said.
Lina al-Hathloul, head of monitoring and advocacy at ALQST, which documents human rights in Saudi Arabia, said: “Saudi Arabia’s bid stands in stark contrast to the requirements of council membership. Saudi human rights defenders face reprisals for engaging with the UN, independent civil society is muzzled and UN experts are denied access to the country, where abuses continue to mount. At a time when global confidence in such international rights institutions is shaken, it’s vital that member states take this simple, but important stand, and reject the bid.”
The Saudi embassy in London was contacted for comment.