On 30 October 2018, documents concerning an agreement made between the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) and Saudi Arabia regarding humanitarian aid were leaked. The Guardian reported that foreign aid from Saudi Arabia came with so many strings attached that it could be considered ‘paid publicity’. While all states[…]
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Women in Saudi Arabia are protesting the tradition that Saudi women must wear a black abaya in public by wearing their abayas inside-out. This movement comes after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) said, in a March 2018 60 Minutes interview, that Sharia law only requires women to dress modestly, but does not require[…]
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Nov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WORLD | 26 November 2018 – Since May 2018, at least a dozen women’s rights defenders have been arrested and subject to human rights violations for their activism in Saudi Arabia. Recent reports have emerged that some of the detained women activists have been subject to electrocution, flogging, sexual harassment and other[…]
21
Nov
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21 November 2018 – Yesterday, 20 November 2018, United States (US) President Donald Trump issued a statement on the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, addressing the question of the Saudi Crown Prince’s involvement. The statement, lauding the Gulf Kingdom’s crucial role in protecting US national security interests, starkly overlooked the likely role Crown Prince[…]
20
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Nov
From June through August 2018, United Nations (UN) Special Procedures sent five separate joint communications to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, expressing concerns over a myriad of human rights violations ranging from the targeting of women’s and human rights defenders, reprisals, the conflict in Yemen, arbitrary detention and more. This blog series highlights these joint[…]
