On Thursday 10 October, The Guardian reported that Saudi Arabia had failed to win a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, in a blow to the Saudi regime’s efforts to clean up their reputation on human rights abroad.
“Saudi Arabia is spending billions to transform its global image from a country known for strict religious restrictions and human rights abuses into a tourism and entertainment hub under a plan its Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, launched known as Vision 2030.”
This decision is a huge relief to the human rights campaigners across the world, who have highlighted the gross human rights abuses taking place in Saudi Arabia and see the attempt by the Saudi regime to win a place on the prestigious UN Human Rights Council as a huge insult to all those whose rights have been denied by the regime in Riyadh.
How can we have a situation where the United Nations rejects the Saudi state’s attempts to clean up its image with purely cosmetic measures and politicians in the North East appear to give the human rights abusing regime a free pass?
Discussion with Newcastle City Council?
With a new Council leadership and growing pressure, hopefully this is going to change.
Leading Saudi Human Rights advocate Lina al-Hathloul recently offered to sit down with new Newcastle City Council leader Karen Kilgour to discuss human rights, but as of yet nothing concrete has been agreed.
“When Lina al-Hathloul visited Newcastle she said that fans ‘shouldn’t accept being muzzled in exchange for Saudi money’. Newcastle City Council haven’t just been muzzled, they have been actively complicit”.
It is incredible that during three years of Saudi state ownership that neither council officials, nor councillors or MPs have met Saudi Human Rights advocates and victims of human rights abuses. However, the previous council leader asked the club to finance free school meals for poor children in the city. If the offer had been taken up, would have been a publicity coup for the despotic regime.
It is telling that that council leaders and officials have been keen to build relationships with figures in a club which is ultimately owned by a despotic regime, yet anti-poverty campaigners, Food and Solidarity tried to deliver a petition on child poverty and the council responded by barring the public and calling the police on families and children.
The recent rejection of Saudi Arabia’s ludicrous bid to get a seat on the UN Human Rights Committee also raises important questions for us here in the North East.
Human rights abuses in Saudi, Newcastle Council, and the government
Firstly, it again emphasises that the torture, murder and imprisonment, the racial and gender discrimination and the use of forced labour at companies such as Newcastle United shirt sleeve sponsor Noon are real.
No more should the regime’s human rights abuses be described as “alleged”. They are real and should concern all of us.
Secondly, it suggests that Newcastle City Council should be following the lead of the United Nations in seeking to expose the regime in Riyadh for what it is. Lina al-Hathloul’s offer to bring a delegation of Saudi Human Rights advocates to Newcastle to discuss with new council leader Karen Kilgour must be taken up.
The whole relationship between Newcastle City Council and the Saudi state owned football club over the last three years needs to be reviewed in an open and honest way.
It is important that some facts are spelled out clearly to the Council leadership.
Councillor Kilgour recently said when addressing Lina al-Hathloul’s offer to meet:
“I think, for something like this, it is down to the government to make those representations to the Saudi government. This is above the level of a local authority. As a city of sanctuary, and we are very proud of our city of sanctuary status, we would welcome and support the government in having those conversations.”
Newcastle City Council does indeed take commendable positions on human rights. They have marked Holocaust Memorial Day and specifically the genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda.
On 2 August, there came another example of Newcastle City Council’s concern for international human rights. with a ceremony to mark Roma Holocaust Day, on what was the 80th anniversary of the cold blooded murder of the last Roma and Sinti at a concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland on 2 August 1944.
Newcastle City Council also has an official policy against Modern Slavery yet say nothing about Newcastle United sponsor Noon which has been credibly accused of using modern day slavery work practices. Equidem, the Gulf based Workers’ Rights NGO has uncovered shocking details of mistreatment of workers in Saudi Arabia by Noon.
The failure of Newcastle City Council to hold the Saudi state to account regarding human rights leads many to think the lack of consistency is because the regime owns NUFC and they are afraid of possible criticism from a minority of fans.
In the same interview Councillor Kilgour added:
“We need to be really careful that we don’t conflate the people involved in the day-to-day running of the club with the people who are responsible for human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia. I don’t think it is fair for us as a council to hold those people responsible and I don’t think it is fair to put that burden on fans of Newcastle United either to take on, effectively, a foreign government and not necessarily the people running their local club that they are incredibly passionate about.”
Unfortunately, this is the same cop-out red herring used by former council leaders. No fan or anyone who is concerned about human rights is holding ordinary workers at the club responsible for the horrendous human rights abuses committed by the Saudi state.
Consistency is needed
All we are saying is that the council be consistent in how it takes up human rights and implement its own stated policies. If Councillor Kilgour raised the case of Manahel al-Otaibi with NUFC Chairman Yasir al-Rumayyan it would have a massive effect. Manahel is a young woman who has been jailed for standing up for women’s rights. She has been abused and mistreated in prison and was recently stabbed in the face with a pen.
What is happening in Newcastle regarding being consistent on human rights is also an indictment of a failing model of UK local government that requires local councils to go cap in hand to developers and investors and this case to a human rights abusing regime.
Figures in local government, MPs and business people in the North East need to be held to account regarding how they have handled the ownership of Newcastle United Football Club by the Saudi state and the broken promises to ‘keep talking about human rights’ made pre-takeover. Not least we need to talk about the danger of a foreign despotic state degrading local democracy and freedom of speech on Tyneside, just because they own a football club.
