The scene in Saudi Arabia gives rise to optimism. Despite the lack of respect by the political system in Saudi Arabia for human rights, a Saudi civil movement is taking off, putting the rights issue on the table, helping to hold governmental and international non-governmental organizations accountable.
It is no secret to anyone that the prosperity of economic conditions and social welfare in the Arab countries has contributed to the increase in national awareness towards human rights, and the attempt to establish a new human rights reality in these countries that still do not have a clear vision for these issues.
Most of these countries share a similar reality, with regard to women's rights, freedom of expression, respect for private life, freedom of belief, assembly, and joining civil and political organizations, and at a time when we find an educated and conscious elite leading the country towards a scene that enshrines and promotes the rights of individuals.
Torture, for example, keeping on the death penalty, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, unfair trials, and the reality of women's rights. All these problems are shared by the Arab world, which affirms the necessity of civil society cooperation in all Arab countries. In order to strengthen the means contributing to the establishment of a new legal system in these countries.
A similar social and cultural reality, and participation in most of the dilemmas, calls for cooperation between human rights theorists in the Arab countries, to exchange expertise and experiences, and to devote a unified vision of human rights. Because the absence of cooperation between the peoples of Arab countries and their civil societies will keep them vulnerable to the oppression of rulers and the spread of social, political and legal dilemmas.
Unifying endeavors and means contributes to the activation of advocacy campaigns and increases their impact in front of the community and international organizations, and draws the attention of the world opinion to the existence of a fundamental problem related to human rights, and what most hinders the popular movement in most Arab countries and the efforts of citizens in these countries to improve the reality of human rights in their countries, a decade European countries that claim democracy are at peace with the rulers of these countries, benefiting from their money that floods their banks, and their political alliances that strengthen their influence.
The political reality indicates that our Arab regimes are a pawn for the big powers, these countries that adopt their human rights, and at the same time work to impede any social and human rights progress in our countries, for well-known purposes, as the rich countries see that they preserve the economic and intellectual well-being of their people at the expense of other countries Therefore, it is wary of other peoples' access to luxury, for fear of losing their privileges.
Therefore, stopping collusion between countries claiming democracy and Arab rulers requires a human rights campaign led by elite Arab intellectuals, because the interests of powerful countries prevent the establishment of regimes that respect human rights in Arab countries, and work hard to prevent people from accessing intellectual well-being because this reduces their control over resources and over the political decision.
Cooperation with civil society in various countries of the world is also very important, and unification of endeavors between human rights organizations in the countries of our Arab world with other countries in various parts of the world. The choices of peoples are often different from the choices of their rulers, and the synergy between men of power, business and influence at the expense of the rest of society to obtain more power and wealth makes unifying the views of trade unions, labor and human rights organizations, and educated groups in all countries of the world an urgent necessity to establish an equal and new global human rights reality. In which individuals do not obtain their rights to well-being, progress and freedom in exchange for other individuals.
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*كلمة عيسى رحمون في المؤتمر السنوي الثالث لضحايا الانتهاكات في المملكة العربية السعودية الذي عقد بتاريخ 9و 10 ديسمبر 2022.