Report submitted to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in the context of the periodic review of Saudi Arabia.
Introduction
This joint shadow report, submitted by MENA Rights Group and ALQST for Human Rights, contains information on the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), ratified by Saudi Arabia on 23 September 1997, including information on the government's implementation of the previous concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (the Committee).
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has consistently upheld that racial discrimination does not exist in the country and that equality is provided for in its laws and regulations. This report shows a different reality. According to our findings and based on testimonies and documentation collected by submitting organisations, ethno-religious minorities and local tribal populations are systematically targeted by authorities for criticising discriminatory laws and norms in the country. They have been subject to enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, physical and psychological torture, summary executions and sentenced to the death penalty.
Therefore, submitting organisations find that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has failed to comply with the binding obligations of the ICERD and to implement the Committee’s 2018 Concluding Observations.
