Saudi Arabia Announces Women’s Driving Reforms, Delays Implementation

On Tuesday 26 September 2017, Saudi Arabia announced that it would allow women to drive for the first time in the history of the kingdom. The policy change, which was announced over state television, will reportedly go into effect in June 2018. Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) calls on Saudi Arabia[…]

Elevation of Mohammed bin Salman may not Affect State of Saudi Human Rights

With the elevation of 31-year-old Mohammed bin Salman to the position of Crown Prince – the youngest Crown Prince Saudi Arabia has ever had – there has come a sense of optimism about the future of the kingdom’s socio-economic state. There is hope among activists and the general public that younger leadership will bring about[…]

Saudi Arabia’s Evolving Oil Politics

In a 27 June 2017 article, Bloomberg described a worrying decrease in investors in Saudi Arabia’s industries. The article argues that falling oil prices coupled with ongoing and potential regional conflicts call for an updated economic model to offset the losses of the Gulf state members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Saudi[…]

Mohammed bin Salman, the War in Yemen, and Women’s Rights in Saudi Arabia

On Wednesday 21 June, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz elevated his son, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to Crown Prince, demoting Mohammed bin Nayef and leaving him out of the line of royal succession. Bin Salman’s ascendance to Crown Prince marks a radical reordering of the power dynamics in the Saudi royal family[…]

Saudi Arabia’s Human Rights Record in 2015

2015 was a watershed year for human rights in Saudi Arabia. It began last January, with the death of a cautious king whose experiments with limited reforms ended with the Arab Spring. It draws to a close now, having witnessed a near-record setting spate of executions, worsening repression of reformers and political dissidents, and a[…]