AL-JOUF: The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) is attempting to reform the current sponsorship system for foreign employees in Saudi Arabia. The aim is to introduce more flexibility, according to Shoura Council member Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Annad.
At a lecture on freedom of expression at the Literary Club on Monday, he said allowing sponsors to keep their employees’ passports and not allowing them to travel without permission is a “restriction of freedom.”
“In some cases this is one of the means used by employers to pressure their foreign workers to abandon their rights,” he said.
Al-Annad added that sacking editors-in-chiefs of publications, gagging writers and sacking journalists without a fair trial or judicial ruling was a gross violation of freedom of expression. “Preventing the distribution of publications and closing down Internet sites is a violation of the right to knowledge.
The same is true when officials withhold information from people,” he said. He added a free press is a parameter of freedom of expression in any country and is also considered a governmental guarantee of this right. Al-Annad said the NSHR is attempting to implement a culture of human rights into Saudi society. He added lessons on human rights could be introduced into the syllabuses of Saudi universities as part of a project that is expected to be approved soon. Since its establishment, the NSHR has received more than 14,000 complaints from citizens and expatriates on various human rights issues. The Society is not funded by the government, as opposed to the Human Rights Commission (HRC).
“Being a government-backed body does not undermine the role of the HRC. Many Arab countries have established their own human rights organizations,” Al-Annad added.
