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Campaigning for justice

Amnesty International is campaigning to expose and combat the widespread human rights violations in Saudi Arabia. In particular, it is putting pressure on the Saudi Arabian authorities to take steps that would make the criminal justice system conform with international human rights standards. It is calling on the Saudi Arabian authorities to ensure, among other things, that:

• every detainee has access to a lawyer from the moment of arrest to final appeal;

• every detainee has prompt access to their family, and medical attention as required;

• torture is clearly banned in law and practice, and all allegations of torture are promptly investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice;

• trials are public and fair;

• all detainees who do not speak Arabic are provided with interpreters and translations;

• discrimination in law and practice is ended;

• executions and cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments are not imposed.

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Dear governments of the world,
Responsibility for the dire human rights situation in Saudi Arabia lies not just with the Saudi Arabian government, but also with you. You have subordinated the human rights of the 19 million people living in the country to your economic and strategic interests in Saudi Arabia. It appears that you have been so dazzled by the country's vast oil reserves and enormous spending power that you have forgotten about human rights.

• Some of you have allowed businesses based in your countries to set up joint ventures in Saudi Arabia without ensuring that the human rights of even their own employees are protected.

• Some of you have benefited from huge military contracts without ensuring that your goods and services would not be used to commit or facilitate human rights violations.

• Some of you have accepted large amounts of economic aid from Saudi Arabia while keeping silent about abuses committed against nationals of your own country working in Saudi Arabia.

• Some of you have forcibly returned home Saudi Arabian asylum-seekers, knowing that they would be at risk of serious human rights violations.

• Most of you, by your silence about human rights violations in Saudi Arabia, have helped the Saudi Arabian government maintain the secrecy about its appalling human rights record.

• Most of you have let intergovernmental organizations such as the UN avoid the issue of human rights violations in Saudi Arabia. The UN Commission on Human Rights, which has criticized the human rights record of a wide range of countries in all regions of the world, has yet to publicly address the serious human rights situation in Saudi Arabia.

• Publicly condemn human rights violations in Saudi Arabia.

• Ensure that military, security and police transactions with Saudi Arabia do not contribute to human rights violations.

• Put pressure on the Saudi Arabian authorities to take urgent steps to end human rights violations.

• Take steps to protect nationals of your own country who are living in Saudi Arabia, particularly those who are arrested.

• Support Amnesty International's call for Saudi Arabia to cooperate with thematic mechanisms of the UN Commission on Human Rights, to ratify additional international human rights treaties, and to allow access to human rights organizations to monitor the human rights situation in the country.