Human Rights and Democracy - Official Documents

awareness and acceptance of human rights. An important indicator of progress will
be whether the number of executions continues to fall. The municipal council
elections scheduled for October 2011 may allow women to vote. We will provide
support to the Ministry of Rural and Municipal Affairs as it prepares for the municipal
elections and continue to urge for the opportunity for women to participate. But the
slow nature of reform will remain frustrating for those Saudis committed to promoting
human rights.
We will take forward a range of human rights work in 2011. We will host the Two
Kingdoms’ Dialogue in London, after it was delayed in 2010. We hope this will be an
opportunity to strengthen our dialogue on civil society issues. Our Embassy will
work with the National Family Safety Programme to develop literature and resources
as it campaigns on children’s rights in schools across the country. We are also
helping to prepare training from HM Prison Service to the Saudi prison service,
which we hope to pilot in February 2011. The British Council will continue to deliver
the Springboard training programme which trains young female entrepreneurs in the
skills required to start and develop their businesses. We will also support the Shura
Council in understanding parliamentary oversight, through a visit to London and
meetings with Parliament, government departments, civil society and the media.
Elections
Saudi Arabia’s second round of municipal elections, planned for October 2009, were
delayed for two years after the existing councils had their terms extended. The
Embassy in Riyadh continued to offer support to the Ministry for Municipal and Rural
Affairs in preparing for these elections and encouraged the ministry to permit women
to stand for election and to vote.
Access to justice
Within the Saudi criminal justice system, many legal safeguards, such as
presumption of innocence, access to evidence, public trials and juries, do not exist.
Judges apply their own interpretation of Sharia law. There is no codified legal
system, leading to wide variations in punishment for the same offence.
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