Human Rights

Saudi Arabia

I decided to describe the life in Saudi Arabia, because I red the book Dark Kingdom from Carmen bin Ladin. She is ex-wife Jislam bin Ladin, one of the Usama brothers. She came to Saudi Arabia from Switzerland because she was in love. After ten years she could divorce in Switzerland. And it is something unbelievably for Islam. The divorce was hard but she won her three daughters and could stay in Switzerland. But she can’t go to Islamic country because she is accused of adultery and it threatens of lapidation in Islamic countries.
The Kingdom Saudi Arabia ranks most of Arabian Peninsula. It has 24 millions inhabitants and is one of the richest lands of the world thanks rope.
State ideology is wahhab form of Islam, the most radical Islamic form. Only Muslims can be citizen. Verts are cruel punishable by religion police. Crown-law know capital punishment, lashing or for example hand current.
Saudi Arabia don’t respect The Declaration of human rights, the Islam dominates everywhere.

Political freedom
Freedom of speech and the press are restricted to forbid criticism of the government or endorsement of "un-Islamic" values. Trade unions and political organizations are banned. Public demonstrations are forbidden. The Saudi Government is an active censor of Internet reception within it's borders. Recently the internet has become a tool for dissent; however the arrest of prominent Saudi blogger and reformist Fouad al-Farhan has been seen as somewhat of a crackdown on online dissent. Fouad al-Farhan has been jailed in solitary confinement since December, 2007, without charges, after criticizing Saudi religious, business and media figures.
Political parties are banned, but some political dissidents were freed in the 1990s on the condition that they disband their political organizations. Only the Green Party of Saudi Arabia remains, although it is an illegal organization. The 1990s marked a slow period of political liberalization in the kingdom as the government created a written constitution, and the advisory Consultative Council, the latter being an appointed delegation of Saudi scholars and professionals that are allowed to advise the king.




And now I would like to describe women’s life in the Saudi Arabia.
Saudi women face severe discrimination in many aspects of their lives, including education, employment, and the justice system and are clearly regarded as inferior to men.
Although they make up 70% of those enrolled in universities, women make up just 5% of the workforce in Saudi Arabia, the lowest proportion in the world.
Implementation of a government resolution supporting expanded employment opportunities for women met resistance from within the labour ministry, from the religious police, and from the male citizenry.
They claim that woman's place is in the home caring for her husband and family.
It is a country where culture and religion make women live mostly restricted segregated lives. There is also segregation inside their own homes as some rooms have separate entrances for men and women.
In the legal system, women face discrimination as the criminal laws of Saudi Arabia adhere to strict Islamic precepts.
An example of this is the requirements for testifying in criminal proceedings.
The witness must be deemed sane, the age of an adult, and a Muslim. Non-Muslims may not testify in criminal court.
Women may not testify unless it is a personal matter that did not occur in the sight of men. The testimony of a woman is not regarded as fact but as presumption.
The reasons why are women forbidden to testify in proceedings are (quote):
Women are much more emotional than men and will, as a result of their emotions, distort their testimony.


•Women do not participate in public life, so they will not be capable of understanding what they observe.
•Women are dominated completely by men, who by the grace of God are deemed superior; therefore, women will give testimony according to what the last man told them.
•Women are forgetful, and their testimony cannot be considered reliable.

Women are particularly vulnerable in cases of assault or rape, as their testimony is treated as a presumption, while that of their attackers is accepted as fact.
In some cases, victims of sexual assault are punished on the grounds that they should not be alone with unrelated males. It happened recently when a woman, victim of a gang rape, was sentenced by a Saudi court to six months in prison and 200 lashes for violating laws on segregation of the sexes, as she was in an unrelated man's car at the time of the attack.
The social system and the system of male guardianship make the patriarchal system in the land. Women have lack of autonomy and economic independence; they have no chance to divorce. But if the man can divorce, he must just go on the street and three times say “I divorce with you” and that’s all. Then the women are absolutely without money and mostly without children, their ex-husband give them to care to another of his wife. In many cases, mothers don’t see their children anymore.
Women are not allowed to drive or ride bicycles on public roads.
Religion police enforce wearing the Niqab and gloves. It is able to strike them with wood-staff if it sees for example bare ankle.
Schools, ministries or restaurants are always sex-segregated. Women cannot be admitted to a hospital, examined by doctor or leave the house without the express permission.
After their first menstrual cycle, women must cover their entire body in a long black cloak named abaya. Failing this result ended in severe punishment.

Reactions of the west
Human rights activists have noted that many Western governments have oil interests in Saudi Arabia and have a vested interest in protecting the status quo in Saudi Arabia because the Saudi Royal family has been so favourable to the West regarding the supply of oil.

Religious freedom
Jewish, Christian or Hindu houses of prayer are not allowed. Unofficially the government acknowledges that many of the foreign workers are Christian are generally allowed to worship in private homes or even hold services at local schools provided that it is not spoken of in public.
This is a degree of unofficial tolerance that is not given to Judaism, Hinduism or atheism.
Officially, the government can search the home of anyone and arrest or deport foreign workers for owning religious icons and symbols, Bible, or rosary.
The government tolerates the presence of Christian workers as long as they do not publicly espouse or express their religion.
In and before February 2004, the official website of the Saudi Supreme Commission for Tourism stated that visas would be denied to "Jewish people". This language was removed after a complaint was lodged against the government by a US Government representative, who suggested that the US should not issue visas to Saudi nationals until the Saudi government reversed its decision to bar members of certain religious groups from entry. The Saudi government subsequently changed the language on their Web site. A Saudi government official was quoted as saying that the exclusion mentioned on the Web site was "a mistake", and stated that the kingdom would not deny visas to anyone on the basis of their religion. Israeli passport holders or holders of passports that have Israeli arrival/departure stamps are still barred.

At the conclusion I would like to say that I am so glad that I can live in this country where I can go everywhere. In the country where the women aren’t on the last rang. If I ended with this book the first female miner started her duties in our country. It was stupid for me at the moment because I was thinking about women who couldn’t go shopping alone and there one woman has problem with her work.























according - souhlasně
assault - útok
bare ankle - odhalený kotník
borders - hranice
by the grace - za slušnost
capital punishment - trest smrti
cover - zahalit
Crown-law - trestní zákon
deemed sane - považovaný za rozumného
employment opportunities - pracovní příležitosti
enforce - prosadit
entire body - celé tělo
failing - selháni
favourable - příznivý
hand current - useknutí ruky
charge - obžaloba
implementation - uskutečnění
jailed in solitary confinement - uvězněn na samotce

labour - pracovní
lashes - bičování
lashing - bičování
participate - účastnit se
precept - zákaz
presumption - troufalost
punishment - trest
quote- citace
regarded as inferior to men - podřadná osoba mužům
requirement - požadavek
resistance - odpor
severe - hrozný
strike - mlátit
superior - nadřazený
supply - zásoba
testimony- svědectví
tool for dissent - nástroj rozporu
vert - odpadlík od víry
vested - vložený
victim - oběť
violating - porušení
vulnerable - bezbranný
witness - svědek
wood-staff - dřevěná hůl
workforce - pracovní síla