Major human rights organizations boycott parallel meetings of the Twentieth Summit in Saudi Arabia

Amnesty International, Transparency International and Civicus, a group that deals with civil society issues, announced a boycott of parallel activities for the Group of Twenty, after Saudi Arabia first assumed its presidency early last month, and will be hosted by Riyadh on November 21 and 22 November.

Forbes magazine said that the three organizations expressed concern about what it described as a lack of transparency in the performance of Saudi Arabia in the first weeks of its assumption of the group presidency.

A joint statement of international human rights organizations issued today, Monday, stated that "as civil organizations, they cannot participate in a process that seeks to give international legitimacy to a state that does not effectively provide space for civil society, and does not allow the voice of an independent civil society."

The statement added that the organizations "will stay away from the formal G20 civil society process, which will be hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," which are preparatory meetings preceding the G20 leaders meeting.

Amnesty International, Transparency International and Sifikios say that Saudi Arabia, the host of the G20 summit, "has tried to promote itself as a modern, attractive country for foreign investors (...) but at the same time, Saudi Arabia interns and defends human rights defenders and women, regularly prosecuting them, restricting freedom of expression and restricting Freedom of movement and mistreatment of detained journalists and activists. "

Human rights organizations criticized the Riyadh authorities' use of anti-terrorism laws to silence the voices of government critics, and warns the same authorities that "instead of real reform, the Saudi government is trying to cover up its poor human rights record by holding major international events in the country, including the G20, In addition to the G20 civil society led by the King Khalid Foundation.

The right to pretend
The statement of the three international organizations warns that, unlike the previous summits of the Group of Twenty that witnessed protests by activists from the host country and other countries, there is no possibility of respecting the right to peaceful demonstrations in Saudi Arabia.

It is noteworthy that Baroness Helena Kennedy, a lawyer at the International Criminal Court, had last summer called on the twenty countries to boycott the planned summit in Saudi Arabia in the year 2020, and explained her call for the death sentences in the Kingdom to increase dramatically.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings also called on Anis Calamar last summer to strip Saudi Arabia of hosting the G20 summit because of the liquidation of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at his country's consulate in Istanbul more than two years ago.