DAMMAM: The Human Rights Commission (HRC) has decided to study the problems of certain “stateless” tribes living in the Kingdom without citizenship, Al-Watan newspaper reported.
“Over the coming months, a high level committee of HRC officials will look into complaints of these people, who call themselves Saudi Bidoons,” said HRC spokesman Zuhair Al-Harithy.
The word Bidoon comes from the Arabic expression, “bidoon jinsiya,” which literally means “without nationality.”
“The HRC will hold a meeting to discuss the committee’s findings and then submit a final report to concerned government departments so that the Bidoons can get their rights in full,” he said, adding that the group’s major demands include obtaining Saudi citizenship and a right to own property.
The complaints received by the committee, according to Al-Harithy, were mainly related to violations of rights concerning health and education services. He added that it was hard to get the precise number of Bidoons in the Kingdom, but he believed their number was significant and that they were living at different parts of the country.
“The members of the committee would include experts who have, and identify their social and other problems,” he said.
According to Muhammad Al-Zulfah, a member of the Shoura Council, people facing citizenship problems are of three categories: Africans who came and settled in the Kingdom a long time ago, the Burmese Muslims who fled their country because of oppression, and Arab tribes who had left Saudi Arabia in the past but now want to return.
The Bidoon are also found in Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
In Kuwait, the Bidoon may be refugees who had illegally entered the country to avoid poverty or war, or those who have settled there since 1920 but have not been recognized by the state. Thousands of Bidoon families in the Gulf hoped an application for citizenship in the tiny Indian Ocean archipelago of the Comoros might mean an end to their legal limbo. But their bid for Comoran nationality was refused this week at a stormy session of Parliament on the main island of Grande-Comore.
Saudis jailed abroad
In another development, new rules approved by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah regarding Saudis detained abroad are to be discussed by the commission.
Al-Harithy said, “The commission has been given full authority to follow up on the conditions of the Saudis jailed abroad and propose new rules and regulations in line with international agreements concerning human rights.”
He said a HRC team would visit Kuwait after Ramadan to ascertain the conditions of 120 Saudis detained there on criminal charges.
An HRC delegation had already visited Jordan and made sure that 70 Saudis in prison there were well treated and had lawyers to defend them.
