Human Rights Violations News and Updates
China is arbitrarily detaining an estimated one million Muslims in Xinjiang, in what the authorities call “political education camps.” Millions more are subjected to intrusive mass surveillance.
Following unprecedented global attention on Saudi Arabia’s discriminatory male guardianship system, which restricts women’s rights to travel (among other things), Saudi authorities undertook reform.
Professor David Kotz discusses how the U.S.'s hardened trade stance has nothing to do with human rights, despite new reports of the massive human rights violations of the Uighurs, a Muslim minority in western China.
Human rights in China under Xi Jinping ‘worst since Tiananmen crackdown
Saudi Arabia's human rights record has been called into question after the news that 47 people were executed in one day.
The country remains a member of the United Nations human rights council despite making extensive use of the death penalty and carrying out dozens of public executions.
"The US State Department has designated Saudi Arabia as one of the world's "worst violators" of religious freedoms, even as Riyadh remains one of Washington's top allies in the region.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its 2019 report on Monday listing Saudi Arabia in the tier one category of countries that implement severe violations of religious freedom.
The annual report, released by the bipartisan organisation created two decades ago, highlights the discrimination that Shia Muslims and Christians face in the country.
"Shia Muslims in Saudi Arabia continue to face discrimination in education, employment, and the judiciary, and lack access to senior positions in the government and military,” the 234-page report said.
“As a matter of law, the Saudi government bans the public practice of non-Muslim faiths by citizens and expatriates alike. While the Saudi government has stated repeatedly that non-Muslims who are not converts from Islam may practice their religion in private, this policy has not been codified,” the reported added."
- Middle East Eye
Executions (Women and Homosexuals)
Information to be added
Women's Rights
Worker's Rights (migrants)
The majority of migrant workers to the Middle East originate from the Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. Many leave their countries of origin to earn enough money to support their families back home. Data released by the World Bank last month revealed that remittances from migrant workers around the world to low- and middle-income countries reached $529 billion in 2018, marking a 9.6 percent increase over the previous year. The top remittance recipients were India ($79 billion), China ($67 billion), Mexico ($36 billion) and the Philippines ($34 billion).
The GCC states in particular accommodate large migrant populations, with the vast majority employed in the domestic and construction sectors. In Saudi Arabia, migrant workers make up 33 percent of the kingdom’s population. As of 2010, 89% of the UAE’s total population comprised of foreign nationals, and in Bahrain 51% of residents were from abroad as of 2015.
-Jerusalem Post
