MECACS Student Essay Prize – Honourable Mention (Sub-Honours)
Daria-Gabriela Gușă is a student in the School of International Relations. This essay received an Honourable Mention in the Sub-Honours category of the 2023 MECACS Student Essay competition.
Saudi Arabia’s non-penalized transgressions against the international rule of law as a result of its bilateral relationship with the United States
The rule of law is regarded as “the preeminent legitimating political ideal in the world today” (Tamanaha, 2009, 4), however, it has been a highly debated concept. It used to be regarded as everyone’s duty, regardless of social status, ethnicity, gender, etc., to adhere to written and recognized legal frameworks at the national level. Through democratisation and globalisation it has come to also encompass respect for human rights and other pillars of democracy at a global level, holding states accountable for digressions (Mora, 2020,185; Tamanaha, 2009, 127; United Nations, 2004, 4). The closest thing to a sole international rule of law is the UN Charter, and its provisions are the only ones which would make violence against another state or human rights transgressions internationally justifiable (May, 2014, 140; Boyle, 1982, 336). Thus, the UN Charter will be used in this essay as the benchmark to determine what actions are under the provisions of the international rule of law. The Middle East, with its great share of conflicts and authoritarian regimes, has always been under scrutiny in its reluctant or even non-existent adoption of new international norms. This essay will examine Saudi Arabia’s adherence to international laws and norms and argue that its allegiance to the US, in its position of hegemon, is one of the main reasons why these transgressions continue to be accepted by the international system. I shall first exemplify both domestic human rights transgressions and international military transgressions by the Saudi Arabian government. This shall be followed by a discussion of the opposing concepts of international law and Shari’ah law, followed by a representation of US-Saudi relations and their ramifications.
Saudi Arabia’s human rights transgressions are internationally notorious, with glimpses of the gravest ones being discussed in media outlets all around the world. Freedom House (2022) ranked Saudi Arabia as the ninth most restrictive country in the world regarding the freedom of its citizens. Saudi Arabia has long opposed international conventions and was one of the few states to abstain in the vote on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights almost a century ago, citing religious grounds (Arzt, 1990, 216). In the last 20 years, Saudi Arabia has finally signed many international conventions on topics such as women’s rights, children’s rights and civil rights, decades after they were first ratified internationally. However, crimes as minor as drinking alcohol can still be punished by violent measures, including public flogging (United Nations, 2023). Women are segregated from men in all aspects of public life and live under legal guardianship of their husbands or male relatives, unable to drive or undergo medical procedures without their permission (Doumato and Posusney, 2003, 241; Amnesty International, 2023, 315). In court, judges can determine whether children have reached the age of majority even though they are under 18 years old, with cases of legally authorised minor marriages or minors subjected to death sentences (AlThenyan, 2018, 285; Amnesty International, 2023, 316). Domestic migrant workers are also subject to very specific laws, such as a 2017 campaign launched to detain all foreigners found to be in violation of labour or residency laws, which culminated in 4.4 million arrests and the holding of hundreds of migrant workers in degrading conditions, tortured to the point of death in some cases (Human Rights Watch, 2022; Amnesty International, 2023, 317). Non-Muslims are still not afforded citizenship, and even though the Saudi government affirms that they have the right to worship in private, there are still reports of religious police entering private homes to stop private services (Ruzinski, 2011, 52; United Nations, 2023). Amnesty International (2023, 315-316) declared that freedom of expression and association are still under strict bans, with many individuals tried and sentenced for lengthy prison terms following unfair trials for crimes such as peaceful Twitter activity in support of women’s rights. In addition, human rights organisations remain banned, with activists being harassed in detention. Thus, despite Saudi Arabia’s ratification of international declarations, there are many grave crimes still being committed at the domestic level, with unfair trials and mass executions dominating headlines.
Saudi Arabia has long been accused of using its oil wealth to fuel an illicit arms trade and support extremist groups in the region, which has contributed to instability and conflict (Mabon, 2013, 44). When looking at regional crimes such as the Saudi-led Bahrain invasion or the provision of weapons and ammunition to Syrian rebel groups in the Syrian Civil War, the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen remains the most notorious (Mabon, 2013, 68). Saudi operations in Yemen have caused devastating loss of human life and one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. As a result, at least 57 000 have died, a sixth of these deaths being represented by civilians that were attacked while in hospitals, schools, or homes, and over 8 million Yemenis have been facing famine. Such events are due, in large part, to the Saudi blockade of Yemen’s borders and sanctions on the country, which have hindered the delivery of humanitarian assistance (Yaakoubi, 2018; Human Rights Watch 2022). These actions amount to war crimes according to the agreed definition United Nations as the Saudis have directly targeted civilians. Saudi Arabia, however, defended their 20 000 air strikes in Yemen, alleging that they were defending the legitimate Yemen government against Houthi rebels (Adhirai Devi, 2021, 2337-2338). The United Nations Security Council resolution regarding Yemen stresses the fight against impunity, however, has not touched on the Saudi-led coalition’s accountability for the war crimes committed (Adhirai Devi, 2021, 2344). Thus, Saudi Arabia is still part of the international system despite recognised war crimes conducted in the region.
Until recently, Saudi Arabia has followed Shari’ah law without any significant revision to its original form (Arzt, 1990, 204). Shari’ah does state a number of civil, political, and economic rights, however, these are specific to Muslim men only. Despite the ratification of many international conventions on human rights, Shari’ah Law still takes precedence (AlThenyan, 2018, 286; Arzt, 1990, 207). Thus, women, children, and non-Muslims in the country still face many issues and lack adequate protection when trying to rely on the Shari’ah rule of law. Some argue that Islam is by definition incompatible with the concept of an international rule of law, as democracy requires secularisation, while others argue that Islamic prophets were one of the first proponents of equality and human rights (Costa and Zolo, 2007, 531-537). Historically, Muslim rights are very similar to modern human rights, leading to the theory that modern Islamic human rights have been manipulated with anti-colonial aims in the era of neo-colonialism in the region, and political aims in the present (Ruzinski, 2011, 48-55). Thus, Saudi Arabia’s abuse of religious freedom violates both its obligations in the international community and the fundamental principles of Islam, ultimately displaying non-adherence to the principles of the rule of law (Ruzinski, 2011, 55).
Despite domestic and military violations of international law, there are still no sanctions imposed on Saudi Arabia by the United States, the United Nations, or the European Union, even though countries such as Myanmar on Yemen, which have a less shocking record related to civilians’ freedoms, are sanctioned (European Commission, 2023; Freedom House, 2022; United States Department of the Treasury, 2023). Further, I shall provide justification as to why this is due to the United States’ involvement in the region. U.S. industry and government have had close relations with Saudi Arabia since the country’s founding and the discovery of oil there in the 1930s (Council on Foreign Relations, 2018). The U.S. has been described as the Saudi regime’s closest ally and protector, enabling Saudi Arabia’s oil-fuelled authoritarianism through the provision of military and diplomatic support in exchange for secure access to oil (Wenar, 2017, 115, 173).Saudi Arabia was the largest U.S. trading partner in the Middle East as a result of U.S. imports of hydrocarbons and U.S. exports of weapons, machinery, and vehicles to Saudi Arabia. In 2017, President Trump signed a nearly $110 billion deal on US military sales to the Kingdom spread out over the next decade (Blanchard, 2018, 3-24). Through this transactional approach, the United States has been willing to overlook human rights abuses and illegal military actions by the Saudi government (Vitalis, 2020, 35; Bronson, 2006, 124). Sanctioning the Saudi economy would lead to higher oil prices and would thus be detrimental to the American economy as well. However, oil is not the sole gain that the U.S. has from this relationship, as Saudi Arabia is an important strategic partner in the Middle East, a region which has been of great interest to the American government in the last century (Hart, 1998, 29). The Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the second largest intergovernmental organisation in the world after the United Nations, has its headquarters in Jeddah, a city in the western part of Saudi Arabia (Mabon, 2013, 51).
The great number of human rights transgressions committed by the kingdom has put a strain on this relationship: “The United States and Saudi Arabia are locked in a marriage of convenience that is no longer convenient” (Bronson, 2006, 1). The U.S. continues to be questioned internationally for its support of Saudi Arabia in light of the country’s numerous transgressions, while the U.S. involvement in the country’s operations creates tensions within Saudi Arabia between the House of Saud, the Saudi royal family, and the Wahhabi ulama, the country’s influential and fundamentalist religious leaders (Mabon, 2013, 208). Two actions in particular have led to the United States’ reconsideration of their relationship with the Saudi government: the Saudi-led military operations in Yemen, and the brutal premeditated murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi—a Saudi citizen and US resident—carried out by a team of Saudi assassins in 2018 in Istanbul (Third Way, 2019, 1). This came as a result of Khashoggi’s publishing of an article in the Washington Post which blamed the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for war crimes and human rights abuses in Yemen. Even though President Trump continued to support the Crown Prince, the US Senate passed a resolution unanimously blaming him for the murder, thus polarizing the U.S. administration (Brehony and Day, 2020, 128-129). In addition, American support for the kingdom has contributed to the rise of fundamentalist Islamic extremist groups, and has revived American suspicions regarding Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the 9/11 attacks (Bronson, 2006, 174).
However, Saudi Arabia continues to be protected from sanctions in the international system. In March 2022, the European Parliament condemned an instance of mass executions in the kingdom and urged the country to immediately cease its use of executions as a legal form of punishment. Four months later, following a visit from the United States President to Saudi Arabia, the kingdom’s government published a communique outlining its strategic partnership with the United States which did not include any human rights commitments (Amnesty International, 2023). This act shows a grave lack of pressure from the U.S. government regarding Saudi Arabia’s subjection to the international rule of law. Not only is the U.S. condoning these crimes through publicly ignoring them, in some cases it is actually contributing to them. In the case of the Yemen conflict, the US provided logistical support and intelligence to Saudi-led coalition forces (Human Rights Watch, 2022). This came as a result of U.S. policy toward Yemen becoming a derivative of Saudi Arabian policy, and as President Obama’s relationship with the Saudi leadership was already strained, its support for the Yemen intervention was necessary. Thus, the U.S. also supported Saudi Arabia in the United Nations Security Council, conferring legitimacy to an act that would objectively be against the international rule of law if scrutinised according to the United Nations Charter (Brehony and Day, 2020, 125). Even though President Biden had declared that his country would end support for offensive operations in Yemen, the administration continues to authorise US defence contractors to service Saudi warplanes (Human Rights Watch, 2022). The Biden administration also did not hold the Saudi Crown Prince accountable to the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, despite US intelligence reports and the United Nations Special Rapporteur concluding that he had approved it (Brehony and Day, 2020, 129). Instead, the US created the Khoshoggi Travel Ban, a new sanctions tool that allows the US State Department to impose visa restrictions on individuals who, “ are believed to have been directly engaged in serious, extraterritorial counter-dissident activities” (Human Rights Watch, 2022). The EU has also been discouraged by the lack of action of the United States in its efforts to end the Saudi government’s human rights abuses, and has shifted its diplomatic efforts to strengthening trade and cooperation ties with the region (Human Rights Watch, 2022). Following the United States’ example, it has chosen to ignore crimes in favour of maintaining its favourable relationship with the oil-exporting kingdom. Due to international reliance on Saudi oil, as promoted by the U.S. for almost a century, the kingdom has achieved great influence in the international system, not needing to abide by the international rule of law as there is no fear of sanctions. Thus, the U.S. has “created a monster that it can no longer control” (Bronson, 2006, 159).
In conclusion, Saudi Arabia has been able to commit human rights transgressions, both in its own country and in the region, without being penalised by international actors or, more importantly, the international bodies entrusted with maintaining the international rule of law. Through its close relation with the United States, both as a strategic partner and as an important source of oil for the American industry, Saudi Arabia has been able to manipulate the United States’ dependency on its resources in order to avoid sanctions from international governing bodies, where the United States holds a lot of influence. Saudi Arabia continues to commit human rights transgressions that are inconceivable in the modern Western perception. In doing so, Saudi Arabia has proven that the international rule of law is not a firm concept, but rather one that can become more lenient as long as countries who hold great influence in international organisations rely on resources and strategic partnerships with authoritarian regimes such as the one in Saudi Arabia.
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