The Human Rights First Society (HRFS, ) is a

non-governmental A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

and non-profit

organisation An organization or organisation ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is an entity—such as a company, or corporation or an institution ( formal organization), or an association—comprising one or more people and having a pa ...

which seeks to promote

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

in the

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. It is one of the few independent groups in Saudi Arabia monitoring human rights, along with the

Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association The Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (''ACPRA'') () is a Saudi Arabian human rights non-governmental organisation created in 2009. On 9 March 2013, the Saudi court sentenced two of its prominent leaders to at least 10 years in prison fo ...

, the

Society for Development and Change The Society for Development and Change (), or SDC, is a Saudi Arabian human rights non-governmental organisation that became active in 2011, campaigning for equal human rights for Shia in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. The organisation called for ...

and the Association for the Protection and Defense of Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia. The HRFS was initiated as an organisation dedicated to protecting and defending human rights in Saudi Arabia according to Islamic teachings. The HRFS stands for applying the rule of law, freedoms of expression and association, and abolishing all discrimination in Saudi society on the basis of gender or religious beliefs.

Founding and status

In 2002, HRFS was created and led by Ibrahim al-Mugaiteeb whom applied to the Saudi government for legal recognition of the group. However, the application was denied. Although the HRFS was not granted governmental status, , it remained unrecognised, but was allowed by the government to exist informally. The Saudi Basic Law does not address

freedom of association Freedom of association encompasses both an individual's right to join or leave groups voluntarily, the right of the group to take collective action to pursue the interests of its members, and the right of an association to accept or decline membe ...

, and the government strictly limited this right in practice. The government prohibited the establishment of political parties or any group it considered as opposing the regime or challenging the King's authority. All associations must therefore be licensed and comply with its rules and regulations. The HRFS have had no response to their request for a governmental license, however, they have continued to pursue their purpose. As the group is formally 'unlicensed', it remains unclear which group activities are permitted and which could draw punishment from the government. Furthermore, without a license the group may not raise any operating funds which consequently limits its activities. Despite this, as of 2016, the HRFS continues to operate independently as a non-government organisation and is still recognised by governmental organisations.

Aims

The aim of the HRFS is to ultimately defend and protect against human rights violations in Saudi Arabia. The HRFS believes in freedom of expression and association, as well as condemning all discrimination against gender or religious beliefs in Saudi Arabian society. The Human Rights First Society aims to monitor

human rights violations Human rights are universally recognized moral principles or norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both national and international laws. These rights are considered inherent and inalienable, meaning t ...

and support victims of human rights violations, using "all peaceful means to advocate that the Saudi government respects and defends all human rights." In fulfilling the role of the HRFS to protect the freedom of expression and association as well as condemning discrimination, the HRFS may release reports to Saudi officials as a recommendation. The reports essentially serve as a 'road map' as to whether certain laws in Saudi are in violation of international human rights conventions or treaties, or that these laws, when they exist, are not respected by the Saudi authorities."Unholy Trespass: How the Saudi Legal Code Violates International Law" Human Rights First Society - Saudi Arabia 2010 As well as making recommendations to officials, the HRFS may also welcome measures by government officials to create more accepted laws.

Structure and leadership

, Ibrahim al-Mugaiteeb is the head of HRFS. al-Mugaiteeb is a leading human rights

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

and the founder and president of the Human Rights First Society (Saudi Arabia). Despite being previously imprisoned for political activism and barred from travel, al-Mugaiteeb continues to condemn human rights abuses and speak out against discrimination. Although al-Mugaiteeb was denied a licence permitting his organisation to function as a government organisation, he continues to operate the HRFS in the Kingdom at his own risk and has done so since the introduction of the HRFS in 2002.

The Basic Law for Governing the Kingdom

The

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques His Majesty the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (abbreviated as CTHM; ), or Protector of the Two Holy Cities, is a Royal and noble styles, royal style that has been used officially by the King of Saudi Arabia, monarchs of Saudi Arabia since 19 ...

, King Fahd Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud issued a Royal

Decree A decree is a law, legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state, judge, monarch, royal figure, or other relevant Authority, authorities, according to certain procedures. These procedures are usually defined by the constitution, Legislativ ...

embodying the Basic Law of Governance for Saudi Arabia. After taking into consideration the interests of the public and with a view to progress the State, the 'Basic Law of Governance' came into force on 1 March 1992. The Basic Law of Governance is a

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

-like charter in accordance with the

Salafi The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a fundamentalist revival movement within Sunni Islam, originating in the late 19th century and influential in the Islamic world to this day. The name "''Salafiyya''" is a self-designation, claiming a retu ...

understanding of

Sharia Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on Islamic holy books, scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran, Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' ...

and does not override

Islamic laws Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, intan ...

. Article 26 of the Basic Law of Governance holds that "The State shall protect human rights in accordance with the Sharia". Sharia is the religious legal system governing the members of the

Islamic faith Faith is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept. In the context of religion, faith is "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". According to the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, faith has multiple definitions, includ ...

. This article is relevant for the purposes of the HRFS in which it will use all peaceful means to advocate that the Saudi government respects this article in situations where human rights violations may become evident.

Statements and reports

Elections

The 2005

municipal elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct var ...

were the first to be held in Saudi Arabia since the 1960s. In the elections, male citizens over the age of 21 were able to vote for half of the members of their municipal councils. On 11 October 2004, Prince Nayef bin Abd al-Aziz, the Saudi interior minister, announced to a

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

i newspaper that women will not be able to run as candidates or vote in the elections. In response to this admission, Saudi election officials gave logistical concerns for this reasoning such as the lack of separate voting booths for women, and the fact women did not have identification cards. Hatoon al-Fassi felt that the fact the officials gave practical reasons for this non-participation rather than religious or gender reasons was a success for women's campaigning HRFS' head, Ibrahim al-Mugaiteeb, stated that the

2011 Saudi Arabian municipal elections Municipal elections in Saudi Arabian towns and cities, initially planned for 31 October 2009, were held on 29 September 2011 (a week after the initial date of 22 September 2011). Women were not allowed to participate in the elections. Women campa ...

would "be of very little significance" if they were held in a similar way to the 2005 municipal elections in that women would not be allowed to participate. He said that the minimum criteria for the elections should include all members being elected by the voters, women should participate, and the voting age should be decreased from 21 to 18".

2011 Saudi Arabian protests

Many

protests A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance) is a public act of objection, disapproval or dissent against political advantage. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate ...

over human rights took place in front of government ministry buildings in Saudi Arabia throughout 2011 and into 2012. Anti-government protests demanding release of prisoners held without charge or trial continued in various cities in addition to protests demanding a

and

legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...

for the Eastern province. Throughout the duration of the protests, a number of protesters were shot dead by Saudi authorities following chants aimed against the

House of Saud The House of Saud ( ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is composed of the descendants of Muhammad bin Saud, founder of the Emirate of Diriyah, known as the First Saudi State, (1727–1818), and his brothers, though the ruling ...

and

Minister of Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

, Nayef, calling them "terrorists", "butchers" and "criminals". On 24 March 2011, during the

2011 Saudi Arabian protests Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number) * One of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''Eleven'', a 1970 collection of short stories by Patricia Highsmith *''Eleven'' ...

, HRFS said that 100 protestors remained under arrest following the 15–18 March protests in and near Qatif and that some had been tortured. Alongside the HRFS, the

(ACPRA) called for the ACPRA co-founder

Mohammed Saleh al-Bejadi Mohammed Saleh al-Bejadi (or ''Muhammad'', ''Salih'', ''al-Bajadi'', ''albjadi''; ) is a co-founder of the Saudi Arabian human rights organisation Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) who has campaigned for prisoners' rights sin ...

to be released following his arbitrary arrest in

Buraidah Buraydah or Buraidah (Arabic: بريدة) is the capital and largest city of Al-Qassim Province in north-central Saudi Arabia. Renowned as the agricultural capital of Saudi Arabia and often referred to as the food basket of the Kingdom, the cit ...

on 21 March by the Internal Security Agency. The protests continued calling for the release of these prisoners, for the

Peninsula Shield Force The Peninsula Shield Force (or ''Peninsula Shield''; ) is the military arm of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). It is intended to deter, and respond to military aggression against any of the GCC member countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi A ...

to be withdrawn from

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

, for equal representation in key offices and for reforms in political positions, as they feel marginalised.

Unholy Trespass Report

In working toward promoting and defending the rule of law, protecting freedoms of expression and association, and abolishing discrimination in Saudi society, the HRFS has compiled a report on the rule of law in Saudi Arabia and its impact on the freedoms of the Saudi people titled "Unholy Trespass: How the Saudi Legal Code Violates International Human Rights" (The Report). The report holds that many of the unwritten laws in Saudi Arabia are "enormously regressive" and "ultimately lethal" to human rights. A nation state has a legal obligation to abide by and to enact legislation cogent with the treaties it has ratified. Furthermore, pursuant to the law of treaties, a State that has signed but not ratified a treaty is obliged to refrain from "acts which would defeat the object and purpose" of that treaty. The report details the areas in which the Saudi Legal Code is a violation of Human Rights Law including:

Surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing, or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...

and invasion of homes, criminalization of

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recognise ...

and association, arbitrary arrest and prolonged detention, secretive and unfair trial proceedings, torture and

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

and denying women equal legal rights The report then discusses how those laws give the Saudi government broad powers to abuse the human rights of Saudi citizens, with particular attention given to the vulnerability of women, religious minorities, migrant workers and children Finally, the report demonstrates where the Saudi government fails to adhere to its own domestic laws in the practice of its treatment of Saudi citizens, violating human rights which it has itself professed to protect in its own law and which is protected under international law.

References

External links

Human Rights First Society (English)Human Rights First Society (Arabic)Unholy Trespass: How the Saudi Legal Code Violates International Human RightsHuman Rights Watch: Saudi Arabia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Human Rights First Society 2002 establishments in Saudi Arabia Organizations established in 2002 Organizations of the Arab Spring Human rights organisations based in Saudi Arabia 2011–2012 Saudi Arabian protests Saudi Arabian democracy movements