The European Parliament on Thursday voted to downgrade its attendance at the November G20 summit in Saudi Arabia over human rights concerns, and to urge for sanctions.
The bill is one of the strongest political messages the institution has ever issued on Saudi Arabia and comes on the two-year anniversary of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
MEPs approved a wide-ranging resolution that condemns Saudi human rights abuses and urges the European Union to downgrade its representation at the upcoming G20 Leaders’ Summit to avoid legitimizing human rights violations.
Belgian MEP and vice chair of the delegation for the relations with Arab Peninsula Marc Tarabella said: “We are all aware of the importance of Saudi Arabia as a partner of the European Union and for the stability of the Middle East. However, this must not be an alibi for violating human rights.”
“The assassination of Khasoggi remains unpunished, Raif Badawi is still in prison; Loujain al-Hathloul and the women activists and even members of the royal family like Prince Salman Abdulaziz and Princess Basmah are detained without charges for years.
“For these reasons, with this resolution we strongly urge the Presidents Von der Leyen and Charles Michel to reconsider EU’s participation in the G20 summit organized by the Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in November. This would be an opportunity for the EU to show coherence with its values and to not legitimize the impunity for the crimes committed in Saudi Arabia.”
Read more: UN slams Saudi Arabia in rare rebuke
Human rights violations
The bills lists a litany of human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia, including, but not limited to:
- The flogging of dissident author Raif Badawi
- The imprisonment and death sentence of teenage activist Ali Mohammed Baqir al-Nimr
- The prosecution of women’s rights activists
- The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi
- Humanitarian violations in Yemen
- Ill treatment of Ethiopian migrants
- Poor working conditions for migrant laborers
- Numerous executions
The bill could mean that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and President of the European Council Charles Michel will not attend November’s virtual summit in Riyadh, if they heed the call of the Parliament.
The joint resolution was written by MEPs from the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group, the Renew Europe group and the Greens–European Free Alliance. The dominant center-right European People’s Party group was not involved in the resolution.
Khashoggi sanctions
The bill also calls on Saudi Arabia to:
- Accept and care for refugees from Yemen
- End abuse and torture of those in detention
- End migrant deportations
- Allow investigations into human rights violations
- Allow rights monitors into the country
- Abolish the Kafala system used to monitor migrant laborers
- Declare a moratorium on death sentences
- Stop arms exports
Read more: Can Saudi Arabia afford human rights abuses?
It also urges the European Council to adopt sanctions against those responsible for the murder of journalist Khashoggi.
Sources within the European Parliament said the bill sent the message that the promotion of human rights and EU support of Saudi Arabia were contradictory.
“It would be quite embarrassing to see Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel sit next to Mohammed bin Salman,” the source, who requested anonymity, told DW. “If you want to deal with the EU in terms of diplomatic exchange, economy and trade, you also have to deal with European values and the respect of human rights.”
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Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline
1955: First school for girls, 1970: First university for women
Girls have not always been able to go to school like these students in Riyadh. Enrollment at the first school for girls, Dar Al Hanan, began in 1955. The Riyadh College of Education, the first higher education institution for women, opened in 1970.
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Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline
2001: ID cards for women
At the start of the 21st century, women could get personal ID cards for the first time. The cards are the only way for them to prove who they are, for example in disputes relating to inheritance or property issues. IDs were only issued with the permission of a woman’s guardian, though, and to the guardian instead of directly to the woman. Only in 2006 were women able to get IDs without permission.
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Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline
2005: End of forced marriages – on paper
Saudi Arabia banned forced marriage in 2005, but marriage contracts continue to be hammered out between the husband-to-be and the father of the bride, not the bride herself.
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Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline
2009: The first female government minister
In 2009, King Abdullah appointed the first female minister to Saudi Arabia’s government. Noura al-Fayez became the deputy education minister for women’s affairs.
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Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline
2012: First female Olympic athletes
Saudi Arabia agreed to allow female athletes to compete on the national team for the Olympics for the first time. One of them was Sarah Attar, who ran the women’s 800 meter race at the 2012 Olympics in London wearing a headscarf. Before the Games, there was speculation that the Saudi Arabian team might be banned for gender discrimination if they didn’t allow women to participate.
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Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline
2013: Women are allowed to ride bicycles and motorbikes
Saudi leaders allowed women to ride bicycles and motorbikes for the first time in 2013 — but only in recreational areas, wearing full Islamic body covering and with a male relative present.
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Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline
2013: First women in the Shura
In February 2013, King Abdullah swore in the first 30 women to the Shura, Saudi Arabia’s consultative council. This allowed women to be appointed to these positions, soon they would be allowed to actually run for office…
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Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline
2015: Women can vote and get elected
In Saudi Arabia’s 2015 municipal elections, women were able to vote and run for office for the first time. By contrast, New Zealand was the first country to give women the vote, in 1893. Germany did so in 1919. At the 2015 Saudi polls, 20 women were elected to municipal roles in the absolute monarchy.
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Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline
2017: First female head of the Saudi stock exchange
In February 2017, the Saudi stock exchange names the first female chairperson in its history, Sarah Al Suhaimi.
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Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline
2018: Women to be allowed in sports stadiums
On October 29, 2017, the country’s General Sports Authority announced that women would be allowed into sports stadiums for the first time. Three previously male-only arenas will soon be open for women as well, starting in early 2018.
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Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline
2018: Driving ban eliminated
On September 26, 2017, Saudi Arabia announced that women would soon be allowed to drive, causing a flurry of driving courses for women to prepare for June 2018, when they would no longer need permission from their male guardian to get a driver’s license or need their guardian in the car when they drive.
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Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline
2019: Saudi women to be notified by text message if they are divorced
The new law, designed to protect them from having their marriage ended without their knowledge, will allow women to check their marital status online or visit a court to get a copy of divorce papers. Human rights defenders say the law does nothing to address the fact that Saudi women can only obtain divorces in exceedingly limited cases — such as with her husband’s consent or if he has harmed her.
Author: Carla Bleiker
