Human Rights and Democracy - Official Documents

Saudi Arabia
Many of our concerns associated with human rights in Saudi Arabia are societal as
much as they are governmental. The Saudi government has, however, made some
limited improvements. It has praised families who have shown clemency by waiving
their private right under Sharia law to have their relative’s killer executed, and have
encouraged women to work in occupations previously closed to them. The
governmental Human Rights Commission promoted human rights in schools and
universities in 2010. But these changes have not been institutionalised. The
guardianship system, under which women need permission from a male relative to
travel, work and study, remained in place. The Saudi legal system, despite
increased judicial training, failed to provide basic standards of international justice.
And the sponsorship system which governs the employment of foreign nationals
failed to provide safeguards against abuse.
We continued our frank dialogue with Saudi Arabia about the human rights situation
in 2010. Working both bilaterally and with the EU, we encouraged progress in four
priority areas: women’s rights, the death penalty, rights of foreign workers and
judicial reform. Progress on implementing the 50 recommendations Saudi Arabia
accepted during its UN Universal Periodic Review in Geneva in February 2009 was
very disappointing, despite encouragement from our Embassy in Riyadh. The Two
Kingdoms’ Dialogue, the bilateral forum for discussing social and economic issues
between the UK and Saudi Arabia, was planned for 2010, but was postponed until
2011. Formal démarche protests were delivered concerning custody rights for
women and the case of Rizana Nafeek, a Sri Lankan national sentenced to death for
killing a baby in her care, when she may have been under 18 years old. Our
Embassy provided training to Saudi security forces in forensic analysis and
investigative methods, including DNA analysis, which has helped to improve the
treatment of suspects. The British Council has trained female entrepreneurs through
its Springboard training programme.
The process of very gradual reform is likely to continue in 2011, with further
incremental developments on women’s employment opportunities and in spreading
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