Talking about unprecedented human-centred reforms, Saudi Arabia repeated its approach before the Human Rights Council in Geneva and completed its image-washing sessions using the United Nations platform.
During the opening of the 52nd session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on February 27th, 2023, the President of the Human Rights Commission, Hala Al-Tuwaijri, spoke about the "historical transformations" that the country is undergoing, as well as reforms and developments in various fields of human rights.
Al-Tuwaijri said that Vision 2030 included axes that directly or indirectly affected human rights, including the right to health, security, women's, children's, persons with disabilities and seniors' rights, as well as the right to development, promoting the right to public life, and forming associations. She also claimed that one of the reforms was strengthening the legislative system by issuing the Evidence System Law and the Personal Status System Law. In addition, she prepared two drafts of the Penal Code and the Civil Transactions System.
The European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights points out that Al-Tuwaijri's talk of legal reforms comes in the absence of a separation of powers and with power concentrated in the hands of the king and the crown prince. Moreover, the laws she mentioned were merely formal laws. Analysis of the draft Penal Code, which is supposed to be issued, reveals flaws, particularly about the death penalty. The organisation explains that talking about a state that promotes the right to public life and forming associations comes amid the detention of Saudi Arabia's most prominent activists, human rights defenders, and association founders. The government continues to prevent the establishment of any human rights organisation, and the judiciary uses the establishment of such organisations as a charge in court.
Al-Tuwaijri's speech was discredited in the rights that claimed to have been included in the vision. It was pointed out that about children's rights, "HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman's initiative to protect children in cyberspace" was launched, and the National Policy to Prevent Child Labor was issued, to provide a safe environment to access a community in which children enjoy all their rights. Talk of reforms in the field of children's rights comes as Saudi Arabia has executed at least 12 minors out of 1,000 executions carried out since 2015. The lives of nine minors are currently threatened with death sentences after unfair trials and serious violations, including severe torture.
Tuwaijri also praised steps related to the right to work. She spoke of a significant reduction in unemployment rates and policies aimed at equality in treatment, and professions, and an end to discrimination. The steps Al-Tuwaijri spoke of did not include the millions of workers who are still subject to the sponsorship system. This is because discrimination against them is practised in the judiciary. This increases the absence of justice and leads to unfair judgments.
The speech refers to the right to ownership and an increase in the percentage of citizens owning homes from 47% to 60%. Data indicate that various regions of the country are witnessing widespread displacement under the pretext of economic projects.
Al-Tuwaijri emphasized the official discourse regarding women's rights and pointed to significant progress in empowering women through an increase in the economic participation rate from 17% to 37%. This was accompanied by an increase in their representation in senior positions. However, talk of empowering women in senior positions overlooked that most women are appointed by the king and crown prince and are directly associated with the authorities. Additionally, there was no mention of the continued practice of official violence in prisons and care homes, as well as continued domestic violence without any radical solutions.
In addition, while Al-Tuwaijri talks about women's rights, Saudi Arabia still restricts leading women activists in the field of women's rights and arrests academics and activists for expressing their opinions. According to the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights, the years that Al-Tuwaijri referred to as having witnessed significant reforms in women's affairs, during the reign of King Salman and his crown prince, were the most violent years against women in prisons. Sentences of up to 90 years have been issued against women, including Nora Al-Qahtani and Salma Al-Shahab.
Al-Tuwaijri concluded her speech by pointing to the determination of the Saudi government to continue to promote and protect human rights based on its values and to prioritize human dignity. The European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights believes that Al-Tuwaijri's appearance as the first female head of the Human Rights Commission speaking on the platform of the Human Rights Council intersects with the content of the speech and the discussion of human rights reforms, and comes in the context of whitewashing Saudi Arabia's bloody and oppressive image.
The organisation considers that talk of reform is just a contrasting image to the reality in which dozens await death sentences after unfair trials in prisons, and where defenders of human rights are imprisoned, and in the context of continued criminalization of free expression and association, and with the continued practice of the most extreme forms of torture and the absence of any real accountability measures.