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 Girls Can Attend Gym Class, but Guardianship Still Lurks

On Tuesday 11 July, the Saudi Ministry of Education (MoE) announced that schools will provide physical education classes to girls for the first time in the kingdom’s history. This development marks a rare, if slight loosening of the restrictions placed on women in one of the world’s most restrictive societies. The decision is part of[…]

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[…]

HRC35 Item 3 Oral Intervention: Migrant Labor in Saudi Arabia

On 9 June 2017, ADHRB’s Advocacy Associate delivered an oral intervention on behalf of ADHRB and BIRD during the 35th session of the Human Rights Council under the Item 3 Interactive Dialogue with the Rapporteur on migrants. In his intervention, Pry raised the issue of migrant labor in Saudi Arabia in the context of the[…]