Right Livelihood and ALQST for Human Rights delivered a joint statement expressing concern over human rights violations in Saudi Arabia at the 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. We highlighted issues such as the denial of entry to international experts, reprisals against human rights defenders and arbitrary arrests, calling on the Council to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for these ongoing abuses.
You can read the entire statement here.
The statement came amid concerns for Right Livelihood Laureate Mohammad al-Qahtani, who has been forcibly disappeared since November 2022, after serving a ten-year prison sentence.
“Anyone exercising their fundamental freedom remains at risk of arbitrary arrest and extremely lengthy sentences,” we told the Council. “Human rights defenders who complete their unjust sentences are seeing new charges brought against them.”
While Saudi Arabia accepted 83 per cent of recommendations from its recent Universal Periodic Review, the country refused to accept any recommendations requesting it refrain from reprisals against human rights defenders.
We also questioned the country’s genuine interest in aligning with international human rights obligations.
“Accountability is crucial for the cycle of repression to end,” we told the Council. “We therefore call on the Council to address the situation of human rights in Saudi Arabia…and urge Saudi Arabia to stop its persecution of peaceful activists and unconditionally release all human rights defenders.”
