The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia delivered a speech before the Human Rights Council on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council, in which it spoke about what it described as achievements in relation to children's rights.
The speech delivered by the Saudi Ambassador to the United Nations, Abdulaziz Al-Wasel, on March 9, 2022, in the context of discussions on children’s rights during the 49th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, was considered that the GCC countries attached importance to child care and the promotion of their rights at all levels. Al-Wasel said that countries have acceded to all international conventions related to the protection, safety and rights of children, and called on countries to work to protect children from the threats that affect them.
Al-Wasel's speech considered Saudi Arabia's accession to the international treaties on children's rights as an achievement, but he completely ignored his country's permanent violation of the provisions of the treaties and the criticism directed at it because of these violations. According to the documentation of the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights, Saudi Arabia threatens the lives of at least 5 minors with execution in flagrant violation of the rights of the child, which it joined in 1997. Many of the cases documented by the organization also confirm Saudi Arabia’s use of violence against minors, including Abdullah Al-Hwaiti, who was sentenced to death on charges brought against him when he was 14 years old. Al-Hwaiti published his memoirs inside the prison and talked about the severe torture and ill-treatment he was subjected to.
In addition, Saudi Arabia is holding the bodies of at least 8 minors, whom it had executed during previous years, which is a precedent in violations of children's rights.
While Al-Wasel talked about threats to children around the world, especially the displaced, he ignored Saudi Arabia's role in the war on Yemen, which led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of children, in addition to its responsibility for killing children, as confirmed by international reports. In addition, Saudi Arabia constantly launches eviction campaigns in different cities with various pretexts. According to the data, families, especially children, have been widely affected by these campaigns. The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights believes that Saudi Arabia is still failing to abide by its international commitments with regard to children's rights in particular. The organization points out that talking about any achievements in the field of children's rights in light of the threat to the lives of minors with execution is a contradiction and part of the misleading propaganda that Saudi Arabia is systematically carrying out before the United Nations.