MEPs Urge EU to Reduce Participation at Saudi G20 Summit
Negligence can be one of the major instigators for the corrupt. Probably, that’s why the European Parliament criticized Saudi human rights records, in a report that was recently published. Saudi Arabia has received a number of yellow cards for its aggressive acts that have violated several rights of dissidents, locals as well as the migrants.
Most recently, the Kingdom failed to protect the Ethiopian migrants, who are being forcibly abandoned and expelled by the Houthis from northern Yemen since March 2020. Instead, the Arab nation chose to dig a deeper pit to bury its remaining reputation.
Citing the records of Saudi human rights, the European Parliament released a resolution on October 8, highlighting the horrific situation of these Ethiopian migrants confined in the country’s filthy detention centres. Passed by the members of the European Parliament (MEPs), it also condemned the Saudi Kafala system and urged the EU states to downgrade the representation at the upcoming Saudi G20 summit.
Reports released by rights groups provide data indicating that nearly 30,000 migrants, including babies, children and pregnant women, have been arbitrarily detained by the Saudi authorities under life-threatening conditions. An Amnesty International investigation stated that the detained migrants “face unimaginable cruelty at every turn”.
It was revealed that thousands of Ethiopian migrant are treated ruthlessly, where some are chained together in pairs, other are confined for 24 hours a day in terribly crowded cells, while most are forced to use their cell floors as toilets. A number of them have died in these detention centres, while some have even attempted to take their own lives.
The recent European resolution of Saudi human rights records listed a series of prolonged violations that have been witnessed in the Kingdom over the years. “Saudi Arabia has spent billions on PR to try and convince the world it respects human rights,” Marie Arena, a Belgian MEP, said in an speech. “We will not be fooled… this country does not know what human rights means.”
Saudi’s Kafala system, which restricts the entry, exit and change of employment of migrant workers without the consent of their sponsors, was also denounced. The Parliament stated that Saudi Kafala is an abusive visa sponsorship system. The EU review on Saudi human rights called on the Kingdom’s government to work towards the complete abolition of the Kafala system, along with the International Labour Organization (ILO).
Saudi government was also appealed to ensure adequate legal safeguards for all migrant workers, who were being poorly treated in the country. First reported by The Telegraph, the situation of Ethiopian migrants in Saudi detention centres has now grabbed the attention of the MEPs.
Amidst the spreading COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of these migrant workers lived in packed cells, with no supply of food and water. Many are even forced to sleep and eat in their own faeces. Considering all these violations, the European Saudi human rights review also pressed for the EU states to minimize representation at the Saudi G20 Leaders Summit.
It urged the Presidents of European Council of Ministers and the European Commission, along with the Member States to downgrade the institutional and diplomatic representation of the EU at the G20 summit, to prevent “legitimising impunity” for Saudi human rights violations, and illegal and arbitrary detentions.
The European Saudi human rights resolution is latest in the uproar against the Kingdom’s treatment of migrant workers. Recently, the Ethiopian migrants within the country have become a latest target to the brutality practiced by the authorities of the monarch, due to the pandemic and after being expelled by the Houthis in Yemen.
