Progress Amid Resistance

SAUDI ARABIA 45333“Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties Under Article 18 of the Convention,Combined Initial and Second Periodic Reports of States Parties: Saudi Arabia”(United Nations, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women,CEDAW/C/SAU/2, 07-29667 [E] 120507 230507, March 29, 2007), 22 (hereaftercited as CEDAW/C/SAU/2), http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N07/296/67/PDF/N0729667.pdf?OpenElement. Article 6 of the convention requires that“States Parties shall take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to suppress allforms of traffic in women and exploitation of prostitution of women.” In addressingthis issue, the Saudis indicate there is no such problem in the kingdom: “In view of thefact that the Kingdom applies the Islamic Shariah, which exhorts to virtue and forbidsvice, fornication and immorality, as well as the fact that these conflict with traditionand custom, traffic in women and exploitation of prostitution of women are practicesunknown to Saudi society. . . . The Kingdom has been able to take practical measuresto close all the loopholes through which unlawful sexual practices might establish apresence in the country. . . . These efforts have achieved notable success, reflecting theState’s sincere desire to combat such unlawful practices. It should be stated that thesepractices are limited and almost negligible, and are contained by the authorities. . . .”34Labor Law, Royal Decree M/51, 27 September 2005, 1st ed. (English), 2006, Part I,Chapter 2, Article 7. Article 7 also includes a directive to the Labor Ministry to “draftregulations for domestic helpers and the like to govern their relations with their employersand specify the rights and duties of each party. . . .”35Katie Mattern, “Saudi Arabia: New Bill Fails to Protect Domestic Workers, HRW Says,”IPS News, July 10, 2009, http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47621.36“Saudi Arabia: Nour Miyati Denied Justice for Torture, Judge Ignores Evidence in Caseof Extreme Abuse Against Indonesian Domestic Worker” (HRW, May 21, 2008).37Shabna Aziz, “Dammam Police Helps Maid Get Her Rights,” Saudi Gazette, May25, 2008, http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=200805257407.38Hadith for the 12th Grade (Riyadh: General Presidency for Girls’ Education, 2000), inArabic.39“Perpetual Minors” (HRW), 22. Sexual abuse within families is historically a problemin the sex-segregated societies of the Gulf. American physicians running hospitals inKuwait and Bahrain from about 1912 documented cases of “honor killings” that weremeant to hide incest. For more on this topic, see Eleanor Doumato, Getting God’s Ear(New York: Columbia University Press, 2000).40“New Explanatory Statement by the Ministry of Justice on Qatif Girl,” Saudi PressAgency (Riyadh), November 24, 2007, www.spa.gov.sa/English/details.php?id=502890.41Ebtihal Mubarak, “Pardoned Rape Victim Subjected to ‘Brutal Crime’—Saudi King,”BBC Monitoring, Arab News website, December 20, 2007. For more analysis ofthe legal reasoning behind the judicial decisions and the king’s pardon in the “Qatifgirl” case, see “Precarious Justice: Arbitrary Detention and Unfair Trials in the DeficientCriminal Justice System of Saudi Arabia” (HRW, March 24, 2008), http://hrw.org/reports/2008/saudijustice0308/.42Resolution no. 120 (12 Rabi II 1425 AH) says that “government bodies which issuelicenses to practice economic activities receive applications from women for such li censes,