Women’s Human Rights Defenders in Saudi Arabia

Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a briefing on the plight of women’s human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia.

On May 15, 2018, as the Saudi government prepared to lift its long-standing ban on women drivers, authorities began arresting prominent women’s rights defenders. State-linked media labeled the women as traitors, and several were reportedly tortured in detention.

The detention of women and some men known for challenging Saudi Arabia’s pervasive controls on all aspects of women’s lives sparked an international outcry. Parliamentarians, the press and human rights organizations the world over have sought to highlight the arbitrary detentions and the egregious treatment of the activists. The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission included the cases of several of the women in the Defending Freedoms prisoners of conscience project, alongside blogger Raif Badawi and human rights lawyer Waleed Abu al-Khair. Most recently, PEN America conferred the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award on three of the women: journalist, blogger and activist Nouf Abdulaziz, activist and social media commentator Loujain Al-Hathloul, and blogger, columnist and activist Eman Al-Nafjan.

This briefing brings together a Saudi journalist, an exiled physician and representatives of human rights organizations to discuss the situation of women human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia and suggest ways Congress can leverage the U.S.-Saudi relationship to defend rights and ease repression. Members of Congress who advocate for Saudi prisoners of conscience will also speak.

This briefing will be open to Members of Congress, congressional staff, the interested public, and the media. For any questions, please contact Kimberly Stanton at 202-225-3599 or Kimberly.Stanton@mail.house.gov (for Co-Chair McGovern) or Piero Tozzi at 202-225-3765 or Piero.Tozzi@mail.house.gov (for Co-Chair Smith).