Does Saudi Arabia Really Have a Human Rights Problem?
The Human Rights Watch writes of Saudi Arabia as a country with ‘longstanding human rights abuses’. A Thomson Reuters Foundation poll placed Saudi among the 5 worst countries for women and the Washington Post writes ‘Saudi Arabia must do something about its barbaric human rights practices’. The Kingdom gets painted by the global community as a bleak and somber environment for its citizens. Where it seems every citizen has their dignity and wellbeing crushed by an alleged fist of oppression. When Americans were surveyed, 55% according to Gallup had an unfavorable view of the Kingdom.
However, Saudi Arabia has in many ways sought to preserve human worth and dignity, which are the overall intentions of the Human Rights Declaration. One must recognize that Human Rights are not solely composed of political ones. They were drafted with the intention to preserve human dignity and the innate worth of humans. Therefore, mentioned in the Declaration are also rights to education, healthcare, and an overall acceptable living standard. When criticism of Saudi Arabia is presented, it seems to unfairly place greater emphasis on the former set of rights while completely ignoring the latter. From this arises the skewed perception of the condition of human rights in the Kingdom. Yes, there may be gaps in the human rights conditions, but this cannot be collated into a synecdochical claim that Saudi Arabia does not care for human rights. If, however, the global community continues to maintain this skewed perception of the Kingdom, it risks harming any further progress the Kingdom has made for its citizens.
Social Programs
With the objective of providing a worthy and dignified life, the Kingdom has enacted a range of social programs. It is important to realize that all of the said programs are provided at the complete expense of the government itself. The government services and welfare programs are not funded through taxpayer money. Workers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, whether citizens or residents, do not contribute to public expenditure through any taxes. It was only in 2018 when the government introduced a 15% value-added tax on consumer goods. Even then, the Kingdom set up the “Citizens Account Program” to aid the population in adapting to the rise in living costs. The absence of any income tax highlights the degree to which the government burdens itself with providing for its citizens. And while the government services and programs are provided essentially free of charge, their quality is not jeopardized.
For example, the Saudi health care system is of high quality and standards. It is ranked 26th in the world by WHO, higher than Canada, Australia, South Africa, and the United States (all have higher GDP per capita than Saudi). Every citizen in Saudi Arabia and expatriates working in the public sector are entitled to free access to this system. Even in times of crisis, as in the current Covid-19 pandemic, the government ensured it provided all those who needed medical care with the assistance they required. With a formal declaration from the King, any person in the Kingdom who contracted Covid-19 was given free medical attention. This was irrespective of whether they are a citizen, an expat or if they were illegally in the Kingdom. As per Article 25 of the Declaration of Human rights: ‘Everyone has the right to… medical care and necessary social services’. Conversely, in the US economic barriers and direct orders from authorities left some without access to the treatment they so needed. One man tells CNN, he was $10,000 in debt solely for his Covid-19 treatment and some patients in Los Angeles were even refused ambulances. But the democratic nature of these countries seems to waive them any criticism regarding the state of human rights in their countries
In addition to free healthcare, all citizens of the Kingdom have free access to education at all levels. This is in accordance with Article 26 of the Declaration, ‘Everyone has the right to education’. Whereas in the US the higher education system burdens students with debt lasting on average 21 years to pay and financial barriers also exist in countries like the UK. While these services are offered absent of any tax and for free in Saudi. Despite this, high-quality education is offered, with two of the top five universities in the Middle East being in Saudi. Along with schooling and university, the government builds facilities for the education and development of the youth. For example, the Ithra Cultural Center is a $400 million facility that hosts a multilingual library, museum, and theater. Access to the center is free of charge and is open to all. For a society that is painted as insulated and closed-minded, the library shelves accommodate books on Western Democracy and feminism. A more calibrated perspective of the Kingdom would accentuate the government’s facilitation of education and youth enrichment.
Women in the Kingdom
Many are rightly concerned as to whether women in Saudi are as equally entitled to these enriching provisions. In the predetermined minds of many, the answer is no. Historically, as aligned with the perceptions of many, there was an extreme gender imbalance in Saudi. Women were required to dress in certain ways, were not allowed to drive, and were not allowed to freely travel without the consent of their male guardian.
However, in recent years there have been many shifts in policy that have tipped the scale more towards equality. The political institutions have moved significantly in recent years towards empowering women. Of the many policies, the most renowned one was the allowance of women to drive in 2018. Also in 2019 legislation was passed allowing women to travel freely abroad. And as of 2020, contrary to the biases abroad, the majority of university students in the Kingdom are women (specifically 55%). Even more unrecognized by the global community, is the effort exerted by the government to include women in the labor force. Studies prove childcare is a major barrier for women around the world looking to enter the workforce. This is why for example, Saudi authorities have required all malls to host child-caring facilities to support women working in retail. As emphasized by Article 25.2 in the Declaration of Human Rights: ‘Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance.’
But the narrow perception of the Kingdom still blinds many from the change and progress occurring in the Kingdom. This limited view of the Kingdom fuels and is fueled by ignorant stereotypes and Islamophobia. Not understanding the society and its efforts as a whole allows these bigoted views of Saudi as a backward society to sustain themselves. For example, too few recognize that the choice to dress modestly is a form of empowerment for women in Saudi. Although recently many have championed the female athletes in the Olympics who have decided to protest sexualizing attire, the bias belittles the choices of Muslim women. People also fail to recognize that modesty is a universal concept in Saudi society. Men are refused entry into the majority of public places if they too are wearing revealing clothing. Without such nuanced understandings, one might falsely conclude that the hijab for example is a manner of repressing women in Saudi society. Without an accurate representation of culture, it becomes hard to recognize the efforts undertaken to fulfill their cultural values, and it also becomes harder to accurately determine and solve any underlying “problems” the global community seeks to “solve”.
The government itself in recent years has implemented a range of policies to address a multitude of societal issues. Yet, what remains a barrier in this shift is the relatively conservative culture. The government can allow women to drive but a father may refuse to hand his daughter the keys. Therefore, it is equally important to recognize the cultural challenges and not only highlight the Kingdom’s “problems’’ as political issues.
What Now…
The continued biased perception of Saudi Arabia presents a potential risk to any further improvements to the lives of its citizens. The implications of this continued false impression of the Kingdom and the failure to recognize its success is a risk to those successes and potential future ones. This false impression painting the Kingdom as barbaric and backward-looking has induced a vilified portrayal of society. Hence, many of the presented “solutions” to the Kingdom’s “problems” come in the form of punishment and forced isolation of the Kingdom. However, the government has moved in the direction of change while the biggest remaining obstacle is culture. The values and norms of a society cannot be induced to change by imposing said society to isolation and sanctions. Cultural and sociopolitical change is dependent on open dialogue and the interchange of ideas. Some will criticize the Kingdom for degrees of censorship from the outside world but will also be advocates of isolating and sanctioning the Kingdom. In truth, we must capitalize on the benefits of globalization for uniting the world rather than using it to revert us to our non-homogenous days of the past. Trade, arts, and travel are needed channels for bringing the world together. As we have seen with Iran and North Korea the strategy of forced isolation does not bring any results. If anything, it emboldens and creates a stronger hardline stance in the country being isolated. And from here any progress is eradicated and so too any hope of future global harmony.
Sources for this article can be found here
