Human Rights Organizations urge the UN Human Rights Council to hold Saudi Arabia accountable

WORLD | 26 June 2019 – As the Special RapporteurAgnes Callamard presents today to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council(HRC) her findings into the extrajudicial killing of Saudi journalist JamalKhashoggi, 40 civil society organisations publish a letter sent to 48ministries of Foreign Affairs from all regional groups at the UN, urging themto establish a mechanism to report on the human rights violations in thecountry and urge the Saudi government to immediately and unconditionallyrelease all those arbitrarily detained, abolish the male guardianship system, andestablish an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

“No State is above scrutiny for its humanrights record,” said the organisations.

Theorganisations highlighted that the provisional release of some activistsdemonstrates that HRC scrutiny can contribute to positive human rights outcomeson the ground, particularly with respect to the cases of detained women humanrights defenders. But for this scrutiny to remain effective, it must besustained.

Overa dozen Saudi women human rights defenders were arrested mid-May 2018 after thelift of the driving ban. Some of them were tortured and threatened with rape,yet no perpetrator has been held accountable. In March 2019, 36 countries atthe HRC called on Saudi Arabia to release all individuals detained for exercising theirfundamental freedoms, including ten women human rights defenders who wereindividually named.

Sincethen, several of them were referred to trial after almost ten months ofdetention without a charge, but they are facing unfair trials; seven wereprovisionally released; and many have not been charged nor referred to trialand remain arbitrarily detained. The authorities’ crackdown on freedom ofexpression has continued. In April 2019, the Saudi government arrested at leastfourteen bloggers, writers and family members of women human rights defenders.This included the son of Aziza Al Youssef, one of the women’s rights activiststhat was provisionally released on 28 March 2019.

Thenext hearing of the women human rights defenders is scheduled for 27 June, whendefender Samar Badawi will appear for the first time.

Thehuman rights situation in Saudi Arabia has also deteriorated on other fronts,including through the increased use of the death penalty. Many of the 37individuals who were executed on 23 April 2019 had been tortured intoconfessing and all of the individuals were convicted in unfair trials.

Onthe 19th of June 2019, UN Special rapporteur on extrajudicial,summary or arbitrary executions Dr. Agnes Callamard released her report on her investigation into themurder of Khashoggi which found that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is responsiblefor his extrajudicial execution.

Callamardhighlighted that the “operation against Khashoggi has tobe understood in relation to this organized and coordinated crack-down, onethat included repeated unlawful acts of torture and physical harm” and that“impunity has been found repeatedly to be a major driver of the high incidenceof murders of journalists and human rights defenders.”

Thegovernment’s zero-tolerance policy for any form of dissent hit particularlyhard the brave women’s rights activists, who were tortured and are stilllanguishing behind bars, over a year after their arrest.

SaudiArabia, as a member of the HRC, is obligated to uphold the highest standardsfor the promotion and protection of human rights and to cooperate fully withHRC mechanisms. It should immediately implement the recommendations issued bythe Special Rapporteur, which include “demonstratingnon-repetition by: releasing all individuals imprisoned for the peacefulexpression of their opinion and belief; independently investigating allallegations of torture and lethal use of force in formal and informal places ofdetention; and independently investigating all allegations of enforceddisappearances and making public the whereabouts of individuals disappeared”.

The letter to 48 governments is part of theongoing advocacy of national, regional and international civil societyorganisations to push for the immediate andunconditional release of Saudi activists and guarantee that they can continuetheir activism without threat of reprisal.

Human Rights Organizations urge the UN Human Rights Council to hold Saudi Arabia accountable