Human Rights

Universal periodic review - Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Questions/Recommendations from New Zealand, Friday 6 February 2009

        
New Zealand thanks the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its presentation and welcomes the delegation of the Kingdom to the Council. We value this opportunity to engage with Saudi Arabia on human rights. 

New Zealand welcomes the Kingdom’s recent announcements of a strategic plan for reform of the judicial system and also efforts by the Human Rights Commission including a “cultural awareness of human rights” campaign, in the Kingdom’s mosques, Madrassas, schools and the recent addition of human rights programme as part of the Kingdom’s professional legal training.

New Zealand however remains concerned with the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia, in particular the high numbers of executions in 2007 and 2008, the mistreatment of migrant workers, the application of corporal punishment and continued economic and social discrimination faced by women.

In order to strengthen its human rights framework, New Zealand recommends that the Government of Saudi Arabia:

• become Party to the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and Economic and Social Rights, adopt effective measures to effectively implement both Covenants, and actively promote awareness of the rights contained therein;

• curtail the practices of incarceration, mistreatment towards and application of travel bans against individuals on the basis of political or religious beliefs; and  

• cease the application of corporal punishment in accordance with its international human rights obligations;

• protect the rights of those facing the death penalty, including through strengthened application of international safeguards in the use of the death penalty (including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and ECOSOC resolution 1984/50).

New Zealand welcomes the Kingdom’s accession to Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the initial steps taken to implement the Convention. New Zealand also welcomes the Kingdom’s hosting of the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women.

We understand there may be discrepancies between local practices and the implementation of the Convention. For example, there are reports that medical treatment has sometimes been denied to women pending the provision of their guardian’s consent, even though we understand such consent is no longer required by law. We are therefore interested to know what steps the Government of Saudi Arabia plans to take to give full effect to the Convention in practice, in particular, with respect to women’s autonomy, child marriages freedom of movement and economic independence.

• New Zealand recommends that the Government of Saudi Arabia adopt an awareness-raising programme at the local level to ensure much wider knowledge of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and take steps to ensure the cessation of practices, including those under the guardianship system, which are inconsistent with the Convention.

New Zealand notes that a unique characteristic of Saudi Arabia is the large migrant worker population. There are reports of abuse and exploitation of this particularly vulnerable group.  The State report notes several proposed annexes and implementing regulations to the 2005 Labour Code designed to improve the rights of migrant workers. What is the timeframe for implementation of these annexes and implementing regulations, and what steps will the Kingdom take to ensure the new regulations are widely understood and correctly implemented? 

• New Zealand recommends that the Government of Saudi Arabia actively promote awareness of the Labour Code amongst workers and their employers and establish an accessible complaint mechanism for migrant workers, such as a free phone-service, to which migrant workers can confidentially report instances of abuse and exploitation as well as seek assistance.

New Zealand notes that a significant number of migrant workers, such as domestic helpers and some agricultural workers, are exempted from the provisions of the Labour Law.

• New Zealand recommends that the Government of Saudi Arabia review Article 7 of the Labour Law to expand its coverage to include migrant workers. 

New Zealand welcomes the access given to some human rights groups to visit the Kingdom to engage in dialogue.

• New Zealand recommends that the Government of Saudi Arabia continue to engage with human rights organisations, and look to deepen the engagement and to broaden it to include a wider representation of groups. 

New Zealand enjoys a productive and fruitful working relationship with the Human Rights Commission in Riyadh. New Zealand looks forward to continued dialogue and co-operation with the Commission on human rights issues.  

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