CHILREN’S RIGHTS

Saudi Arabia is a transit point for children going into forced labor and some sexual exploitation. Women are also oppressed through male dominated societal prerogatives and religious dogma. In addition, the government neither set a minimum age for marriage nor adopted any comprehensive policies to combat forced and early marriages. Marriages of Saudi girls as young as 10 to much older men were reported in 2008.

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ENVIRONMENT

Problems are: desertification and depletion of underground water resources. The lack of perennial rivers or permanent water bodies has prompted the development of extensive seawater desalination facilities. There is continued coastal pollution from oil spills.

HUMAN RIGHTS

According to Human Rights Watch, Saudi Arabia is a tier 3 violator in which foreign immigrants are held in houses and forced to work without pay or with reduced pay and in circumstances vastly different from those promised by employers. Saudi Arabia is also a transit point for children going into forced labor and some sexual exploitation. Women are also oppressed through male dominated societal prerogatives and religious dogma. 

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POLITICAL PRISONERS

Saudi Arabia routinely arrests those who criticize the ruling family. It isreported that there are hundreds of them held without charge andincommunicado. Professor Matrook Al-Faleh, for example has been held without charge since May 19, 2008. The reason for his arrest is not known, although it is thought that he may be held for his writings and activism in support of political prisoners in Saudi Arabia. Professor Matrook al-Faleh, one of Saudi Arabia's leading reformists, is among dozens of political activists to have been arrested or subjected to arbitrary travel bans. Political prisoners are tortured in Saudi Arabia in order to procure confessions that can lead to long jail terms.

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POWER IT FORWARD

Do a favor, give someone a break, offer help before it's asked for. Move the world around you and it will continue to move. Paying it forward is good work, personal work. Pass it on. Tell others to do the same.

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PRESS FREEDOM

There is some press freedom in Saudi Arabia. However it is given and then taken away in fits and starts. Government officials silence critical voices and dismiss editors, suspend or blacklist dissident writers, order news blackouts on controversial topics, and admonish independent columnists over their writings to deter undesirable criticism or to appease religious constituencies. 

WOMEN’S RIGHTS

According to Human Rights Watch, Saudi Arabia is a tier 3 violator in which foreign immigrants are held in houses and forced to work without pay or with reduced pay. Women also cannot leave an employer without the employer’s permission. Women are also oppressed through male dominated societal prerogatives and religious dogma. The government continues to treat women as legal minors, denying them a host of fundamental human rights. The government requires women to obtain permission from a male guardian to work, study, marry, travel, and even receive a national identification card.

Women are prohibited from working in offices or entering government buildings that lack female sections, or pursuing degrees in disciplines not taught in women's colleges. The Ministry of Labor replaced its prohibition on mixed workplaces with vaguely worded obligations to respect Islamic law on the matter, and so the current workplace environment remains highly segregated. The Ministry of Justice denies women the right to be judges or prosecutors, or to practice law.

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