On June 14, the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight held a hearing entitled, “Is There a Human Rights Double Standard? U.S. Policy Toward Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Uzbekistan.”
Human Rights Watch Advocacy Director Tom Malinowski stated, “State Department officials have traveled to Saudi Arabia to raise human rights issues, but these discussions are held very much behind the scenes and it is unclear how much progress, if any, has been made…For the past two years, the State Department has condemned Saudi Arabia for its policies on human trafficking, placing it in the category of most serious violators, or Tier 3 under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. But the administration has consistently waived sanctions against Saudi Arabia that are supposed to be triggered by that designation, arguing that a full waiver needs to be given to providing military sales to Saudi Arabia ‘to advance goals of the Global War on Terror and U.S. commercial interests.’ He added, “There is a concern that speaking too loudly about issues like women’s rights and religious freedom in Saudi Arabia could backfire, causing these issues to be perceived as exclusively Western attacks against a pristine Islamic culture. Care indeed needs to be taken in choosing how to speak to Saudis about human rights. But silence is not a wise alternative.” Mr. Malinowski said that Saudi citizens are increasingly concerned about issues, such as women’s rights, and he urged the U.S. to adopt “a principled and consistent stand on these issues in the right tone.”
In reviewing the history of relations between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Senior Associate Amr Hamzawy noted that progress on human rights in Saudi Arabia has been slow, particularly for women’s rights. He said that in the 2005 municipal council elections, the kingdom’s first elections, women were excluded as voters and candidates. Since then, women have been permitted to vote and run for professional syndicate board elections, but they are still excluded from municipal elections. In 2003, the government did invite female professors to government-sponsored national dialogue conferences on freedom of expression and reform. Change in Saudi society, Dr. Hamzawy said, is “an uneven process.” He recommended U.S. government support for Saudi groups advocating democracy and human rights, and outreach by American foundations to Saudi civil society.
Also testifying were Martha Brill Olcott, senior associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Mr. Thomas Lippman, adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute.
