Saudi Arabia claimed that the measures it has taken to combat the Coronavirus pandemic have been based on a human rights-based approach.
During an interactive discussion with the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, Karima Bennoune, on 4 March 2021, a member of the Saudi delegation, Sarah al-Assaf, enumerated her country’s funding of a number of projects in the context of combating the pandemic.
The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR) believes that Saudi Arabia has not based its policies, as it claimed, on human rights in facing the pandemic, but rather it contributed to the spread of the virus among foreigners through the detention centers in which Ethiopian refugees were placed without any preventive measures.
In addition, with regard to the cultural rights which Saudi Arabia stated it has safeguarded in the framework of the pandemic measures, the organization notes that it has monitored arrests for expressing opinions about these measures. Saudi Arabia also sentenced the famous religious singer, Mohamed Bou-Jibara, to nine months in prison on charges related to videotaping a religious event claiming that he violated the measures of the pandemic.
The ESOHR affirms that the Saudi government, contrary to its claims before the Council, has used the pandemic procedures to restrict freedoms and rights, including cultural rights.