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UK-Saudi relations a failure, say MPs

21/07/2008

Attempts by the UK government to promote human rights in Saudi Arabia have failed, an influential group of MPs has said.

The foreign affairs committee treated government claims to be assisting with gradual reform in the kingdom with disdain, and characterised the relationship as a one-way street.

"We conclude that the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia is one of the worst in the world," the committee's annual human rights report reads.

"The government's stated policy of assisting with gradual reform is simply not adequate in the face of the dramatically increased use of the death penalty and the continued repression of women's rights.

"We accept there is a balance to be struck in any relationship with a strategic ally, but we do not see how the government's current policies are presenting sufficient incentives to the Saudi regime to curtail its most severe abuses," it continues.

The UK is in a difficult position with regards to the Saudi kingdom. Despite an atrocious human rights record and reports of Saudi funding of Islamic extremists overseas, it remains a pivotal ally of the US and a supposed cornerstone of the western regional strategy.

As the leading exporter of petroleum, the kingdom is also unlikely to face sustained UK criticism as Gordon Brown's administration struggles desperately to force down oil prices.

Current UK policy – termed the 'two kingdoms dialogue' – is to adopt a softly-softly approach with the Saudis, pushing for change to the country's legislative and political system while also maintaining trading and strategic interests.

However, the government refuses to disclose its goals in relation to the country.

"We recommend that the 'two kingdoms dialogue' should explicitly address issues such as the death penalty, and, as last year, we recommend that this dialogue should have measurable and time-limited objectives," the report says.

"We understand the government's reasoning in not making such objectives public knowledge. However, we recommend that if the government believes that these objectives should be kept private, the foreign secretary should write to us in confidence when he responds to this report to outline what progress has been made."

The Saudi government dismisses reports of human rights abuses as lies but sustained criticism from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the United Nations Human Rights Committee disagrees.

In December of last year a Saudi blogger called Fouad al-Farhan was sentenced to five months of solitary confinement, without charges, after he criticised religious, business and media figures. A British-Canadian citizen named William Sampson recently released a book - Confessions of an Innocent Man: Torture and Survival in a Saudi Prison – detailing his claims of torture when imprisoned in the country.

Saudi Arabia is also the only country in the world where women are banned from driving on public roads although there is mounting speculation the law may soon be lifted.