AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE

30 January 2001

AI Index MDE 23/001/2001 - News Service Nr. 18

Saudi Arabia: The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child sets example for scrutiny of human rights

“Noting the universal values of equality and tolerance inherent in Islam, the Committee observes that narrow interpretations of Islamic texts by State authorities are impeding the enjoyment of many rights protected under the Convention” Paragraph six of the concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child released on 26 January 2001 (Ref CRC/C/15/Add.148)

The Committee’s observation was made after a lengthy process of evaluation of the implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). During the examination by the Committee’s ten independent experts, the Saudi Arabian government was given the opportunity to provide an accurate assessment of the implementation of the Convention, to which it became a state party in 1996. The Committee’s observations reflect the failure of the government to fully ensure respect of the rights of children enshrined in the Convention and its attempt to hide such failures behind interpretations of Islam.

“Pretexts such as sovereignty, national security, terrorism or religion are too often used by governments to justify human rights violations” said Amnesty International.

The Committee’s observations are consistent with Amnesty International’s findings on the appalling record of protecting the rights of children in Saudi Arabia.

“Implementation of the CRC in Saudi Arabia leaves much to be desired” said Amnesty International.

Children continue to be victims of arbitrary arrest and detention, ill treatment and torture, and in some cases they have been sentenced to death after unfair trials and after the Convention, which explicitly prohibits the imposition of the death penalty on children, came into force. In December 2000 the governors of Mecca and Medina set up committees to impose severe and quick punishment to male teenagers suspected of harassing girls. This extra-judicial measure reportedly resulted in the arrest of about 350 youths and at least 20 of them were publicly flogged in Madinah.

Children continue to suffer discrimination as direct targets or by association with their parents, both in law and practice. For example, the policy of education and the segregation of the sexes place the girl child from the start in a subordinate position to male children.

The Committee has issued specific recommendations to address these and other violations of children’s human rights, many of which have been highlighted by Amnesty International. Amnesty International welcomes the Committee’s observations and recommendations, and calls on Saudi Arabia to implement the Committee’s recommendations without delay and to make public the measures taken to implement them.

\ENDS

public document

****************************************

For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566, Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW web : http://www.amnesty.org