HRW's report on Saudi Arabia: Soft-sell for a Core Violater

NGO Monitor
Monitor Reports
22 November '10

- “Looser Rein, Uncertain Gain” (September 27, 2010) is Human Rights Watch’s assessment of the reforms that King Abdullah has implemented in Saudi Arabia over the past five years.

- The most egregious examples of Saudi Arabia’s systematic and endemic abuse of human rights are downplayed in the report, such as violence and discrimination against women, the lack of freedom of speech or religion, and the role of the religious police.

- The recommendations for Saudi Arabia are ambiguous and lack concrete guidelines for implementation. (Compare with HRW’s numerous reports on Israel which include harsh recommendations, such as calls for severe sanctions by the United States, the European Union, and UN.)

- As a study of this very closed society, the lack of detail and depth in “Looser Rein” reflects limited access and information regarding the situation in Saudi Arabia.

- This report should be read in the context of the Middle East division Director Sarah Leah Whitson’s May 2009 fundraising trip to Saudi Arabia, which focused on HRW’s role in attacking Israel.

- The 52-page report, presented as a compilation based on five years of research, contrasts sharply with HRW’s seven lengthy publications on the 3-week Gaza war of January 2009. This illustrates the disproportionate agenda and allocation of resources in HRW’s Middle East division.

- The soft approach reflected in “Looser Rein” is further evidence in support of HRW founder Robert Bernstein’s conclusion that the NGO has abandoned its “original mission to pry open closed societies, advocate basic freedoms and support dissenters.”

(Read full report)

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