At the 45th session of the Human Rights Council, Denmark criticized the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s practices. In a speech delivered on 25 September 2020, by Morten Jespersen, Denmark’s UN ambassador in Geneva, Denmark noted that it had reviewed the latest Saudi reforms and that implementation is crucial.
Denmark also expressed its deep concern about the targeting of civil society and human rights advocates, calling for an end to the use of torture and the death penalty.
Non-legislative bodies in Saudi Arabia previously announced changes in the country’s use of the death penalty, with the official Saudi Human Rights Commission publishing a royal order ending the death penalty for minors. However, prior Saudi practices demonstrate the impossibility of trusting such statements. In 2019, Saudi Arabia executed six minors in spite of the issuance of the Law on Minors that forbids this, and, currently, at least 13 minors remain under threat of execution.