DOCSLIB.ORG

Annual Report 2O16

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Annual Report 2O16 ANNUAL REPORT 2O16 HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE TABLE OF CONTENTS UNITING LIBERALS IN DEFENCE OF HUMAN RIGHTS 03 COMMITTEE OVERVIEW 04 PRIORITY WORKING AREAS 05 FREEDOM OF BELIEF 05 LGBT RIGHTS 08 WOMEN’S RIGHTS 09 RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT 13 THE GENEVA SUMMIT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 14 LI HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE AT UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL 16 IMPRISONED FOR THINKING 16 31ST SESSION 18 32ND SESSION 19 LIBERAL INTERNATIONAL 33RD SESSION 19 LI HUMAN RIGHTS BULLETIN 20 HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE 5TH EDITION 21 6TH EDITION 21 ANNUAL LI PRIZE FOR FREEDOM 22 REPORT Published by Liberal International with the support of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF). The FNF's funds originate from a grant by the German Foreign Office, resulting from a decision of the Bundestag. The views expressed in this publication are 2O16 those of the authors alone. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom. ANNUAL REPORT 2O16 | 03 UNITING LIBERALS IN DEFENCE OF HUMAN RIGHTS Promotion and advancement of human rights lies at the heart of the liberal agenda. The belief in individual rights, liberty, and equality forms the very basis of every liberal policy and during these turbulent times of fast-rising populism and far right extremism it has never been more important to unite the liberal voice in the defence of human rights. Throughout the calendar year 2016, the Liberal International Human Rights Committee (LI HRC) took the lead on a number of issues not least on ending violence against women in politics and promoting freedom of belief by reaching out to new partners and reinvigorating the cooperation with existing ones. From bringing together a number of liberal parliamentarians at the Inter-Parliamentary Union to debate the elimination of gender-based violence to engaging in discussions on anti-radicalization with the Mayor of the Molenbeek municipality in Brussels, 2016 proved to be a year of great success showing the value of mutual support in our global liberal network. In Geneva, members of the Human Rights Committee assembled at the United Nations Human Rights Council to discuss liberal solutions to the growing authoritarianism around the world and the ever declining freedom of the media. Participants were able to engage with a number of former political prisoners and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe Special Representative on Freedom of the Media reaffirming Liberal International as a leading voice on fundamental freedoms among the political internationals. The LI Human Rights Committee has continued to grow and has seen the highest and most diverse group of members join its ranks with more women than men for the first time. At the same time the Africa Liberal Network has strengthened its human rights profile becoming an invaluable partner to the work of the Committee with African liberals comprising one third of all LI HRC members. As we look to establish a strong front against human rights abuses around the world and strengthen Liberal International’s position as a key international actor on the human rights scene, I would like to offer my sincere “The belief in individual rights, liberty, gratitude to my colleagues for their selfless devotion and support to the work of the Committee. I very much look forward to and equality forms the very basis of our continued work and the possibility for future engagement with established and new human rights allies. every liberal policy and during these turbulent times of fast-rising Yours sincerely, populism and far right extremism it has never been more important to unite the liberal voice in the defence Markus Löning Vice-President on the Bureau of Liberal International of human rights.” Chairman of LI Human Rights Committee 04 | ANNUAL REPORT 2O16 COMMITTEE OVERVIEW Over the course of 2016, the LI Human Rights Committee has shown a consistent growth in terms of diversity in its membership and priority work areas. The 196th LI Executive Committee in Tblisi, Georgia saw the election of 24 representatives from 16 countries across 3 continents who vowed to deliver on the Committee’s newly ratified priorities which included the promotion and advancement of Women’s Rights, LGBTI rights, the Responsibility to Protect Principle and Freedom of Belief. Full information about the new committee including the biography of all Committee members can be found on the LI website. ANNUAL REPORT 2O16 | 05 FREEDOM OF BELIEF Gathering a diverse set of Liberal International Human Rights Committee (LIHRC) members, liberal politicians and representatives from across the civil society sector at the European Parliament in Brussels, the LI Human Rights Committee met to discuss Freedom of Belief in an Era of Radicalization. The first part of the event was hosted by the Mayor of Molenbeek (a municipality of Brussels), Francoise Schepmans (Mouvement Reformatuer, Belgium), at the Cultural Center of Molenbeek alongside Jo De Ro, Member of Parliament (Open VLD, Belgium) and Olivier Vanderhaeghen, a local Radicalisation Prevention PRIORITY Officer. Chaired by Boris Van Der Ham, LI HRC Member and Former Member of Parliament (Democrats 66, Netherlands), the debate focused on the challenges of combatting WORKING radicalization and on the prevention of stigmatization of religious minorities. In his welcoming remarks LI HRC Chair and LI VP on the Bureau Markus Loening explained that it is important to debunk the myth of Molenbeek which is currently considered as a hot bed for terrorism in Brussels while at the same time prevent AREAS Muslim residents of the municipality from being discriminated on a daily basis. 06 | ANNUAL REPORT 2O16 Addressing the issue of integration, Mayor Schepmans explained that Belgium has been an Vanderhaeghen echoed De Ro’s conclusions by stressing that radicalization prevention immigration land for a long time but integration has not been prioritised and this is a could only be achieved through a multi-disciplinary approach. Religion, as he argued, was challenge which needs to be addressed by both the federal government and municipalities. not the main driver of radicalization but rather social isolation, emotional fragility and a sense of not belonging to the community along with a lack of equal opportunities for young people. In this sense it is very much an identity/ideological problem. He further added that a lot of prevention work usually takes place with the family in order to reinforce the emotional link between the radicalised person and his/her relatives so that re-integration and social insertion in the society can be achieved. Capacity building and “I am proud that Liberal International has come here to Molenbeek creating an environment with free and open speech is crucial for such success. in the Maison de Culture, in the centre of the commune, to have an The second part of the event was hosted by LI HRC Member and Member of the European exchange with me as a Mayor but also with key educational social Parliament Ilhan Kyuchyuk (Movement for Rights and Freedom, Bulgaria) at the European actors in order to really understand the situation of Molenbeek. Parliament where speakers included Dr. Solomon Passy, Former Foreign Minister of This exchange of expertise and experience enables us to move Bulgaria, Abir Al-Sahlani, LI HRC Member and Former Member of Parliament (Centerpartiet, forward with very precise ideas in the fight against radicalization.” Sweden), Sophie In't Veld, Deputy Leader of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament (Democrats 66, Netherlands) and Adam Deen, Managing Director at the Quilliam Foundation. Mayor Francois Schepmans Molenbeek Municipality, Brussels De Ro on the other hand explained that a specialist on religious affairs has to be incorporated into the integration work in order for it to be effective whereas Vanderhaeghen stressed that religion is not the main driver of radicalisation but it is rather an ideological/identity problem stemming from social isolation and emotional fragility. “Radicalization needs a multi-disciplinary approach as it doesn't take place in the mosque but rather in the public space. The emotional link Al-Sahlani spoke at length about the need for democratization in the Middle East in order between the radicalised person and his/her family needs to be to address the underlying cause of fundamentalism which in turn breathes extremism re-enforced so that re-integration and social insertion in the society while In't Veld insisted on removing class justice in order to prevent radicalization. can be achieved” Jo De Ro Dr. Passy enriched the discussions by presenting a perspective on the need to manage Member of Parliament (Open VLD, Belgium) migration while Deen focused on the lack of tolerance created by extremism which in turn manifests into violence. ANNUAL REPORT 2O16 | 07 The concluding remarks of the debate were delivered by LI Past President Annemie Neyts (Open VLD, Belgium) who emphasized that radicalization has become a "container phrase" as we don't know what it means and therefore we need to invest in understanding “As long as we have dictatorships in the Middle East we will also the triggers of the problem. have fundamentalists because there is lack of hope. The feeling of being insignificant and as little as human being can be feeling in a The event also saw an evening reception hosted by Former ALDE Party President Sir dictatorship, actually is the best ever ground for that fundamentalist Graham Watson at the Permanent Mission of Gibraltar, a working lunch hosted by LI approach to Islam. Without a political change in the Middle East, President of Honour Hans Van Baalen MEP and the awarding of 2016 LI Prize for Freedom without democratisation, without involving all citizens, without to the jailed Saudi liberal blogger Raif Badawi (please refer to the Section on LI prize for Freedom in this report for more information having true liberal values, who are for everyone in the Middle East, ).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Wei Jingsheng and the Democracy Movement in Post-Mao China Merle David Kellerhals Jr
    Old Dominion University ODU Digital Commons Institute for the Humanities Theses Institute for the Humanities Summer 1998 Wei Jingsheng and the Democracy Movement in Post-Mao China Merle David Kellerhals Jr. Old Dominion University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/humanities_etds Part of the Asian History Commons, and the Political History Commons Recommended Citation Kellerhals, Merle D.. "Wei Jingsheng and the Democracy Movement in Post-Mao China" (1998). Master of Arts (MA), thesis, Humanities, Old Dominion University, DOI: 10.25777/7pt4-vv58 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/humanities_etds/13 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Institute for the Humanities at ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Institute for the Humanities Theses by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WEI JINGSHENG AND THE DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT IN POST-MAO CHINA by Merle David Kellerhals, Jr B A. May 1995, College of Charleston A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Old Dominion University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS HUMANITIES OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY August 1998 Approved by: Jin Qiu (Director) hen Jie (Member) David Putney (Member) Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 1391982 Copyright 1999 by Kellerhals/ Merle David, Jr. All rights reserved. UMI Microform 1391982 Copyright 1998, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.
    [Show full text]
  • Impending Developments and Transformations in International Law
    The Chinese Journal of Global Governance 3 (2017) 83–159 brill.com/cjgg The Clash of Architects: Impending Developments and Transformations in International Law Joel Slawotsky IDC Herzliya, Israel [email protected] Abstract The world stands at the precipice of a transitional moment in the international law writ caused by the reasonable likelihood that new architects will be joining (and eventually supplanting) the present-day architects. Transformative geo-political and economic developments such as OBOR, the AIIB, NDB and the increasing internationalization of the Yuan all herald potentially significant changes to the existing international gover- nance architecture. “Revisionist” states with strong motivations and global ambitions, may will become international law creators as these new architects influence the eco- nomic and legal orders. International law is not static and several of the new architects’ customs and norms inherently conflict with current Western ideals. Will international law norms converge? Will Western notions gravitate towards the other spectrum in enlightened self-interest? The impact on international law norms, enforcement, human rights, sustainability, trade and investment treaties and arbitration will be far-reaching. Understanding how this potential re-orientations in power will affect international law is of critical importance. Keywords global governance architecture – international law – norms The world stands at the precipice of a transitional moment for international law affecting both the creation and enforcement of international law;1 access 1 The dispute between China and the United States over the South China Sea provides an apt illustration. See Michael Martina, Greg Torode and Ben Blanchard, China scrambles © Slawotsky, Joel, 2�17 | doi 10.1163/23525207-12340025 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-NC 3.0) License.
    [Show full text]
  • Saudi Arabia Page 1 of 18
    Saudi Arabia Page 1 of 18 Published on Freedom House (https://freedomhouse.org) Home > Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia Country: Saudi Arabia Year: 2015 Status: Not Free Total Score: 73 (0 = Best, 100 = Worst) Obstacles to Access: 15 (0 = Best, 25 = Worst) Limits on Content: 24 (0 = Best, 35 = Worst) Violations of User Rights: 34 (0 = Best, 40 = Worst) Population: 30.8 million Internet Penetration: 64 percent Social Media/ICT Apps Blocked: Yes Political/Social Content Blocked: Yes Bloggers/ICT Users Arrested: Yes Press Freedom Status: Not Free Key Developments: https://freedomhouse.org/print/47723 12/8/2016 Saudi Arabia Page 2 of 18 June 2014–May 2015 • The Saudi television channel Rotana ordered Google to take down a video of the satirical YouTube show “Fitnah” on copyright grounds, after the show had used footage from Rotana to criticize its owner, Prince Waleed bin Talal. The video was later restored by YouTube (see Content Removal). • Human rights activists Waleed Abu al-Khair and Fowzan al-Harbi have had their prison sentences extended to 15 and 10 years, respectively, upon appeals by the public prosecutor (see Prosecutions and Detentions for Online Activities). • Raif Badawi, who co-founded the website Saudi Arabia Liberals, had his 10-year sentence suspended and later upheld by the Supreme Court and received the first set of 50 lashes in January. He was sentenced to a total 1,000 lashes, to be carried out in public (see Prosecutions and Detentions for Online Activities). • During a funeral for the victims of an attack by Islamic State (IS) militants on a Shiite mosque, political activist Waleed Sulais was beaten by two men who accused him of insulting them on social networks (see Intimidation and Violence).
    [Show full text]
  • URGENT APPEAL the Case of Raif Badawi
    URGENT APPEAL The Case of Raif Badawi To the attention of: Special Procedures, United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner May 1, 2019 Related mandates Arbitrary Detention Freedom of opinion and expression Freedom of peaceful assembly and of association Human rights defenders Torture Victims Name: Raif Badawi ​ Type: Individual ​ Sex: Male ​ Date of birth: 13/01/1984 ​ Nationality: Saudi Arabia ​ Affiliation or activity: Human rights-related activity ​ Submitted by Name: The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights & The Human Rights Foundation ​ Type: NGOs ​ Email: [email protected] ​ Describe the activities of the group/community, civil society or other entity: The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR) is a unique international consortium of parliamentarians, scholars, jurists, human rights defenders, NGOs, and students united in the pursuit of justice, inspired by and anchored in Raoul Wallenberg’s humanitarian legacy – how one person with the compassion to care and the courage to act can confront evil, prevail, and transform history. Our Chair, the Honourable Professor Irwin Cotler, serves as Raif Badawi’s international legal counsel and has power of attorney. The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. HRF unites people in the common cause of defending human rights and promoting liberal democracy. Contact persons of the group/community, civil society or other entity: Irwin Cotler- Raoul
    [Show full text]
  • G3 Malala Biography
    Malala Yousafzai - Biographical Malala Yousafzai was born on July 12, 1997, in Mingora, the largest city in the Swat Valley in what is now the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan. She is the daughter of Ziauddin and Tor Pekai Yousafzai and has two younger brothers. At a very young age, Malala developed a thirst for knowledge. For years her father, a passionate education advocate himself, ran a learning institution in the city, and school was a big part of Malala's family. She later wrote that her father told her stories about how she would toddle into classes even before she could talk and acted as if she were the teacher. In 2007, when Malala was ten years old, the situation in the Swat Valley rapidly changed for her family and community. The Taliban began to control the Swat Valley and quickly became the dominant socio-political force throughout much of northwestern Pakistan. Girls were banned from attending school, and cultural activities like dancing and watching television were prohibited. Suicide attacks were widespread, and the group made its opposition to a proper education for girls a cornerstone of its terror campaign. By the end of 2008, the Taliban had destroyed some 400 schools. Determined to go to school and with a firm belief in her right to an education, Malala stood up to the Taliban. Alongside her father, Malala quickly became a critic of their tactics. "How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?" she once said on Pakistani TV. In early 2009, Malala started to blog anonymously on the Urdu language site of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
    [Show full text]
  • Arab Secularism's Assisted Suicide
    Arab Secularism’s Assisted Suicide A Brief History of Arab Political Discourse on Religion and the State APRIL 25, 2019 — MARK FARHA The Century Foundation | tcf.org Arab Secularism’s Assisted Suicide A Brief History of Arab Political Discourse on Religion and the State APRIL 25, 2019 — MARK FARHA Few would contest that the Arab world today is still ideological impasse. Relying on a range of Arabic primary struggling to accept, let alone institutionalize, the core pillars sources, it begins with a panoramic historical overview of of secularism and a civic state. In part, this crisis of secularism the usage of the term “madani” (meaning “civil” or “civic”) might be seen as a global phenomenon in light of the among a selection of key liberal and reformist Arab proliferation of populism tinged with communal prejudice. intellectuals, from the nineteenth century to the present.2 But while there is a global component to this problem, there The report also examines recurrent patterns in the use of are also particular regional characteristics. This report seeks “dawlah madaniyyah” as a means of either asserting or to go beyond the current crisis surrounding secularism avoiding an egalitarian, secular state in the present context as a symptom of a broader, universal failure of liberal of post-Arab-uprising states struggling with ideological and democracy and economic inequalities, and to specifically sectarian fragmentation. I explore how the concepts of the link the enfeebled state of secularism in Arab states to the civil state and citizenship have actually been used, in some region’s intellectual and political history since the nineteenth cases, to completely skirt secularism proper.
    [Show full text]
  • Houses Built on Sand Ii
    i Houses built on sand ii Series editors: Simon Mabon, Edward Wastnidge and May Darwich After the Arab Uprisings and the ensuing fragmentation of regime– society relations across the Middle East, identities and geopolitics have become increasingly contested, with serious implications for the ordering of political life at domestic, regional and international levels, best seen in conflicts in Syria and Yemen. The Middle East is the most militarised region in the world, where geopolitical factors remain predominant in shaping political dynamics. Another common feature of the regional landscape is the continued degeneration of communal relations as societal actors retreat into substate identities, while difference becomes increasingly violent, spilling out beyond state borders. The power of religion – and trans- state nature of religious views and linkages – thus provides the means for regional actors (such as Saudi Arabia and Iran) to exert influence over a number of groups across the region and beyond. This series provides space for the engagement with these ideas and the broader political, legal and theological factors to create space for an intellectual reimagining of socio- political life in the Middle East. Originating from the SEPAD project (www.sepad.org.uk), this series facilitates the reimagining of political ideas, identities and organisation across the Middle East, moving beyond the exclusionary and binary forms of identity to reveal the contingent factors that shape and order life across the region. iii Houses built on sand Violence, sectarianism and revolution in the Middle East Simon Mabon Manchester University Press iv Copyright © Simon Mabon 2020 The right of Simon Mabon to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
    [Show full text]
  • Saudi Arabia
    FREEDOM ON THE NET 2017 Saudi Arabia 2016 2017 Population: 32.3 million Not Not Internet Freedom Status Internet Penetration 2016 (ITU): 73.8 percent Free Free Social Media/ICT Apps Blocked: Yes Obstacles to Access (0-25) 14 14 Political/Social Content Blocked: Yes Limits on Content (0-35) 24 24 Bloggers/ICT Users Arrested: Yes Violations of User Rights (0-40) 34 34 TOTAL* (0-100) 72 72 Press Freedom 2017 Status: Not Free * 0=most free, 100=least free Key Developments: June 2016 – May 2017 • The government outlined plans to significantly increase broadband penetration by 2020 (see Availability and Ease of Access). • An online campaign to end male guardianship caught the attention of the royal court and resulted in gradual reforms (see Digital Activism). • A court increased an activist’s prison sentence for advocating for human rights online from 9 to 11 years on appeal; others were newly detained (see Prosecutions and Detentions for Online Activities). • Public institutions lost critical data in major cyberattacks, including the civil aviation authority, a chemical company, and the labor ministry (see Technical Attacks). 1 www.freedomonthenet.org Introduction FREEDOM SAUDI ARABIA ON THE NET Obstacles to Access 2017 Introduction Availability and Ease of Access Saudi internet freedom remained restricted in 2017, despite effective digital activism for women’s Restrictions on Connectivity rights. Several human rights defenders were jailed for social media posts. Saudi Arabia unveiled its monumental “Vision 2030” reform and development targets in April 2016. ICT Market The plan included measures to increase competitiveness, foreign direct investment, and non-oil government revenue by 2030.1 The government also announced a National Transformation Program in June 2016 which included several ICT specific targets to be achieved by 2020, including increasing Regulatory Bodies fixed-line broadband penetration in densely populated areas from 44 to 80 percent, and increasing wireless broadband penetration in rural areas from 12 to 70 percent.
    [Show full text]
  • Check Against Delivery. Vice President Robredo, President Aquino
    Speech of the LI President LI Prize for Freedom, Manila Check against delivery. Vice President Robredo, President Aquino, Excellencies, Distinguished Guests and Colleagues, dear Liberal Friends: Liberal International is delighted to be here, in the Philippines, to present our foremost human rights award, the Prize for Freedom, to Liberal Party senator, Leila De Lima. The Prize for Freedom has been awarded annually since 1985. As of today, the Prize will have been awarded to two courageous Filipino women, whom we are privileged to call liberals and who fought, indeed in the case of Senator De Lima continue to fight, unwaveringly for justice and liberty. President Corazon Aquino was the third-ever recipient of the LI Prize in 1987, as this beautiful country emerged from the yoke of a terrible dictatorship. 21 years’ later, representatives of the global liberal family are in the Philippines to honour another human rights hero, although circumstances on this occasion do not give us cause to celebrate as we did in 1987. Instead, representatives of our global political family are here today to join hands with millions of Filipinos as we shine a light into what has become a shady political atmosphere and a subject of global consternation. So seriously do we perceive the incarceration of Senator Leila de Lima, who has now been unjustly detained for 520 days, that we have come to the Philippines to present this award. For the first time in almost one decade, the Prize for Freedom is being awarded outside of Europe — in doing so, we are here to honour the sacrifice of this remarkable prisoner of conscience.
    [Show full text]
  • Saudi Arabia
    FREEDOM ON THE NET 2016 Saudi Arabia 2015 2016 Population: 31.5 million Not Not Internet Freedom Status Internet Penetration 2015 (ITU): 70 percent Free Free Social Media/ICT Apps Blocked: Yes Obstacles to Access (0-25) 15 14 Political/Social Content Blocked: Yes Limits on Content (0-35) 24 24 Bloggers/ICT Users Arrested: Yes Violations of User Rights (0-40) 34 34 TOTAL* (0-100) 73 72 Press Freedom 2016 Status: Not Free * 0=most free, 100=least free Key Developments: June 2015 – May 2016 • Internet penetration has risen on the back higher mobile broadband subscriptions (see Availability and Ease of Access). • Authorities throttled Telegram starting in January 2016 in order to prevent users from sharing images and files over the popular messaging app (seeBlocking and Filtering). • The head of Riyadh’s Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice was dismissed after public outrage over a video of committee members harassing a girl outside of a mall (see Digital Activism). • Abdulkareem al-Khadar, Abdelrahman al-Hamid, and Abdulaziz al-Sinedi were respec- tively sentenced to 10, 9 and 8 years in prison for online advocacy against human rights violations. Saudi’s Supreme Court upheld a harsh verdict against liberal blogger Raif Bad- awi in June 2015, who had earlier been sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 public lashes (see Prosecutions and Detentions for Online Activities). • Mobile phone operators are now required to fingerprint customers when selling new SIM cards, limiting the ability of Saudis to use their phones anonymously (see Surveillance, Privacy, and Anonymity).
    [Show full text]
  • Saudi Arabia
    SAUDI ARABIA TIER 1 | USCIRF-RECOMMENDED COUNTRIES OF PARTICULAR CONCERN (CPC) KEY FINDINGS In 2018, while Saudi Arabia remained a country of particular harass individuals for dissent, blasphemy, and apostasy. The concern, religious freedom conditions trended positive in cer- Saudi government continued to violate the rights of Shi’a Mus- tain areas, including: Saudi senior officials no longer stated lims and non-Muslim minorities, and to advocate a doctrine of that Islam can be the only religion on the Arabian Peninsula; religious intolerance. While it began new construction in the senior leadership met with several Christian leaders, including Shi’a town of Awamiya, the Saudi government restricted the the head of the Anglican Church and a group of American observance of religious holidays by the Shi’a Muslim minority. evangelical leaders, pledging to promote interfaith dialogue After more than 15 years of incremental progress, the Saudi and the flourishing of different faith traditions as part of the government showed backsliding on improvements to its text- kingdom’s domestic reforms; Egyptian Bishop Ava Markos led books that continued to propagate intolerance and advocate the first known publicized Coptic Church Mass in Saudi Arabia’s violence against religious minorities, women, and the lesbian, history; USCIRF was granted the first-ever meeting between gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) community. the head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Despite the fact that in 2018 women were given the right to Prevention of Vice (CPVPV) and a U.S. government delega- drive, the religiously justified guardianship system remained tion; religiously motivated restrictions on women driving were in place, adversely affecting the religious freedom of women lifted, and provisions of the guardianship laws treating women in the kingdom.
    [Show full text]
  • Challenges of Digital Activism in Saudi Arabia: the Case of Raif Badawi
    Challenges of Digital Activism in Saudi Arabia: The case of Raif Badawi Taghreed Alshehri Abstract Newcastle University The digital world is not as a universally free space as Newcastle upon Tyne, UK we might think. For instance, expressing one’s beliefs [email protected] and calling for freedom of religions might not only be deemed as disturbing cultures, status quo, politics and religions, but also considered as a criminal offence. Thus, in this paper, I argue that the role of digital civics researchers and practitioners is more challenging as they do not only have to design and build technical solutions for activism but also to ensure activists safety when applying these solutions. Author Keywords Digital activism, social justice, freedom, social media, digitalcivics ACM Classification Keywords Paste the appropriate copyright/license statement here. ACM now K.4.1 Public Policy Issues supports three different publication options: • ACM copyright: ACM holds the copyright on the work. This is the historical approach. Introduction • License: The author(s) retain copyright, but ACM receives an exclusive publication license. • Open Access: The author(s) wish to pay for the work to be open In the past few years, more citizens have opted for the access. The additional fee must be paid to ACM. online platforms where they can be active members in This text field is large enough to hold the appropriate release statement changing their cultures and communities. Activists, in assuming it is single-spaced in Verdana 7 point font. Please do not change the size of this text box. particular, have made use of the digital world to Each submission will be assigned a unique DOI string to be included here.
    [Show full text]