RIYADH, 28 October — A special UN human rights envoy on a landmark visit to the Kingdom yesterday urged the government to speed up judicial reforms.

"I discussed with Saudi officials the slow pace of the implementation process of judicial laws. I urged them to speed up the reforms," Dato Param Cumaraswamy, UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, told a press conference here.

He said he obtained the government’s commitment for the ratification of two major international covenants on civil and political rights‚ and economic, social and cultural rights.

The Kingdom, in another move, also proposed the formation of a national human rights institution.

Cumaraswamy said that legal system in Saudi Arabia was improving while undergoing substantial changes both structurally and procedurally. He, however, was surprised to find out that only 67 lawyers have so far been registered in the country and they don’t have any association or a bar council, which can serve their interests.

Cumaraswamy, who wrapped up his week-long mission to Saudi Arabia tonight, will prepare an official report containing a full set of conclusions and recommendations, which will be made public during the next session of the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva in March next year.

The UN official made 13 preliminary observations about the Saudi legal system and its operation in light of human rights standards.

He commended Saudi Arabia for recently ratifying three international conventions on the elimination of discrimination against women, convention against torture and the rights of the child.

The new criminal procedure code, which became effective in May, "represents an important step in the regulation of the administration of justice," as it explicitly enumerates the rights of the accused, Cumaraswamy said. "But I have noted that many of these new laws have taken a long time to implement," he said.

He noted the "frequent reliance on confessional evidence before the courts to prove the offense", but stressed that he noticed that the government was committed to "go forward on this issue."

He said he had met four Britons held in connection with two bombings in the Kingdom. He found them in "good health".

James Cottle, James Lee, Sandy Mitchell and Peter Brandon said they had been "well looked after" at the facility where they were being held, Cumaraswamy said, but complained they had not had the same conditions in a previous prison.

"I have raised the concerns arising from this particular issue with the relevant authorities, I had very extensive discussions on the matter," Cumaraswamy said.

Mitchell, Cottle, Lee, a fifth Briton, Les Walker, Canadian William Sampson and Belgian Raf Schyvens appeared on Saudi television last year confessing to 2000 and 2001 bomb attacks that killed a Briton and an American.

All the men, apart from Schyvens, subsequently withdrew their confessions. Brandon did not appear in the broadcast.

Cumaraswamy said he did not meet Walker, who was in hospital, or the Belgian detainee who was held elsewhere.

During the visit , Cumaraswamy has had wide-ranging talks with Interior Minister Prince Naif, Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal, Minister of Islamic Affairs Saleh Al-Sheikh, Minister of Labor & Social Affairs Dr. Ali Ibn Ibrahim Al Namlah and Minister of Justice Dr. Abdullah Al-Sheikh.

The UN rapporteur said that "the administration of justice in Saudi Arabia is guided by Islamic Shariah, which contains many of the guarantees with respect to the independence of judiciary, the right to a fair trial and due process contained in international human rights law. It is not disputed that the essence of the Shariah is the pursuit of justice."

"What I have been most interested in under my mandate are the procedures presently applied to achieve this very objective (justice)", said the UN official, adding that a separate department of investigation and prosecution, set up in 1989, has begun operations. A new criminal procedure code has also been issued, the government has also commenced the process of registering lawyers and the process will finish within five years, he said.

The absence of women in the legal profession, he said, contradicts the policies of the country, which is evident from the fact that 50 percent of the graduates in law faculties of the Saudi universities are women. He also spoke about resistance on the part of some judges to the presence of lawyers in the courts due to a perception that they interfere with the ability of the judge to ensure justice.