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This ‘developed’ nation has abnormalities in its statistical indicators which are similar to those that characterises third world nations. Saudi Arabia is oil rich and is a strictly Islamic State. Their Muslim religion and its strict adherence to their interpretation of their holy book the Quran actively dominates citizens position and role in their society. Even though they are a very modest nation in appearance, western countries are extremely concerned about the lack of human rights in Saudi Arabia. Areas of concern include abuse of prisoners, incommunicado detention, prohibitions or severe restrictions on freedom of speech, press, peaceful assembly, freedom of association, religion, denial of right of citizens to change their government, systematic discrimination against women and ethnic and religious minorities and suppression of workers rights. Indicators Saudi Arabia USA Philippines Cambodia Capital City Riyadh Washington DC Manila Phnom Penh Area (sq km) 2149690 9372614 300000 181035 Population (‘000s) 1998 17615 258104 72164 10751 Indicators Saudi Arabia USA Philippines Cambodia GNP 1995 per capita (US$) 7040 26980 1050 270 Total exports (millions of US$) 56700 625100 25000 615 Total imports (millions of US$) 25400 825000 34000 1000 Economically Active (%) 32.2 50.4 N/A 43.1 Participation rate (%) 59.1 79.4 N/A 86.2 Indicators Saudi Arabia USA Philippines Cambodia Male/female life expectancy (years) 1998 68/72 73/80 64/69 47/49 Crude birth rate (per 1000 people ) 1995-00 34.30 13.80 28.40 33.70 Infant mortality rate (per 1000 births) 1996 55 7 35 102 Persons per doctor 1995 776 420 1195 23292 No. of cases of tuberculosis 1995 (per Secondary Students per teacher 1994 13.70 11.60 31.70 19.20 Military expenditure (% of GNP) 1997 13.5 3.8 N/A 3.1 Education funding (% of GNP) 1995 5.50 5.30 2.20 N/A Male/Female literacy rate (%) 1998 72/50 97/97 95/94 79.7/53.4 Electricity consumption per capita kWh 1995 3470 13732 350 18 Saudi Arabia was a poor country until oil was discovered beneath the eastern deserts in the late 1930’s. The country suddenly found itself very wealthy as it became an important exporter of oil in just a few years. The price of the oil increased very dramatically from just $3 a barrel to over $40 a barrel. This economic success ensured that the leaders became very wealthy. The GNP per capita is economically sound. However, this figure is misleading. A large proportion of GNP is channeled towards the leaders while a disproportionate sum is filtered to the citizens. A large amount of construction was initiated using the revenues earned. However, most of the workforce consisted of cheap foreign labour while the Saudi Arabian citizens suffer an enormous 25% unemployment rate compared to the United States 5% unemployment. This economic success dropped somewhat as oil prices dropped tremendously in 1998-1999. Large amounts of construction work were halted and social programs were cut to reduce costs. However, since late 1999, the oil producers cartel agreed to lower the production rate of oil so that the price of oil would rise. Their move was very successful and oil rose from US$10 per barrel US$31 per barrel. Recently, at a meeting of the oil cartel, the rate of production was increased in order to reduce the price of oil to a stable level (US$25 per barrel) and satisfy the western world– this shows the politics of oil. There are no formal democratic institutions in Saudi Arabia. Only a few of the wealthy and politically empowered have a voice in the choice of leader or change of political system. The King rules on civil and religious matters and appoints all of the ministers of the government. They in turn appoint subordinate officials with cabinet concurrence. This means the ordinary citizen have no voice at all in how their Government is run. In theory, any male citizen or foreign national may express an opinion or air a grievance to the Consultative Council. However, this rarely occurs as the Government has a high intolerance of any oppositional group. For example, The Committee for Defense of Legitimate Rights (CDLR) was established in 1993. The Government acted almost immediately to repress it. Women play no formal role in government and politics and are actively discouraged from doing so. The government severely limits the freedom of speech and press. They do not allow any criticism of Islam, the ruling family or the government. If criticism does occur even implications through editorial comments and cartoons, the party/s involved are subject to arrest and detention until they confess to a crime and or sign a statement to cease criticism. Strict censors remove, blacken or glue pages containing any offending articles referring to any religion other than Islam, or criticism from the foreign press. The citizens are therefore unable express or encounter any views other than those approved by the Government of Saudi Arabia. Civil liberties are not respected. Freedom of religion does not exist. Islam is the official religion and all citizens must be Muslims. The Government prohibits the public practice of other religions No non-Muslim religious material is allowed such as a traveler wearing a crucifix necklace and no peaceful assembly of a non-Muslim church permitted. Every part of Saudi Arabian life is guided by its religion. It is one of the more conservative countries of the Muslim faith. There is substantial prejudice based on ethnic or national origin. Although the Quran did give women a clear legal status as independent human beings who are allowed to control their own money long before this was allowed in Britain, discrimination is still evident in their interpretation of the holy book. The Islamic Law states that ‘daughters receive half the inheritance awarded to brothers’ and ‘the testimony of one man equals that of two women’. There are greater restrictions on women than on men regarding marriage to non-Saudi’s and non-Muslims. The conversion of a Muslim to another religion is considered apostasy which is a crime under the Shari’a law which is punishable by death. Although discrimination of women is very prevalent, most of it is actually not part of the original beliefs of Islam. It has been enforced more because it is a tradition. Physical spousal abuse and violence against women are common problems. However, the government considers these issues to be a family matter and rarely intervenes. Women cannot leave their home without the accompaniment of a male escort. They are not permitted to drive at all and cannot use pubic transport or be hospitalised without the consent of a male relative. Segregation of women occurs everywhere and women make up only 5% of the formal workforce. Women must demonstrate legally specified grounds for divorce yet men may divorce without giving cause. There is quite a low literacy rate as exemplified in ‘Table 1’ where only 72% of males are literate and a low 50% of females are literate. Even when compared to the suppressed developing country of Cambodia, these figures are low. This causes a difficulty in job placement among Saudi Arabians, which is possibly another reason why foreign labor is so predominant. Whilst the country is economically rich in oil and related industrial infrastructure, it is ‘capital poor’ in general education and skills. All these factors will have a major effect on the nation when the oil reserves are depleted. The high infant mortality rate of 55 deaths per 1000 births is another indicator of Saudi Arabian’s statistics similar to that of a developing country. This rate is high possibly because women need the consent of a male relative to go to the hospital and the men may not want their wife to go to the hospital because they may ‘lose face’. The newly delivered baby may not get the medical attention that it may require until it is too late. It may well be that family or clan midwives are used in preference to a hospital birth. The birth rate of 34.30 births/1000 is very high. This is a characteristic counteraction of developing countries with a high infant mortality rate. No one solution will be able to eradicate the problems of Saudi Arabia. Most of their way of life has been imbedded too deeply, that even those disadvantaged by the system accept it as right. Many ‘solutions’ have already been implemented but have failed to achieve their goals. The law that abolished slavery may have ‘looked good on paper; as an exercise in international public relations. However, this law has not been enforced as many workers are forced to work long hours without pay. Some employers have confiscated workers passports and also refused to grant exit visas to foreign workers who wish to return to their own nation. These actions intimidate foreign workers who fear to complain. The following criteria need to be considered when devising a solutions to the nations social and economic contradictions: - Education levels need to be raised to develop an increase in intellectual activities and skills which can be used for future employment. - Birth control and family planning programs should be introduced to curtail population growth. This high growth is seriously affecting the country’s ability to provide adequately for all its citizens social and economic needs. - Observance of genuine human rights in accordance with the United Nations Charter to ensure equality in race, creed and gender. - A redistribution of wealth needs to be implemented through the introduction of job creation programs to ensure that the wealth is more evenly distributed amongst the people . The ruling family and the dominant oil sheiks presently control the vast oil wealth of the nation and any ‘trickle down’ effect that now occurs is not only minimal and relies totally on patronage. - The infant mortality rate of 55 deaths per 1000 births needs to be lowered. - A balance must be struck between Saudi Arabia’s military expenditure and education expenditure. The literacy rates in Saudi Arabia have to be improved. This could be achieved by making schooling less expensive for the ordinary citizen. Therefore, the government could make schooling compulsory for children aged between 6-14. This system is similar to that of Australia’s system where children between 6-15 have to go to school. Australia’s system have attained a 100% literacy rate in both male and female literacy. This system should perform just as well in Saudi Arabia. To allow the government to make school less expensive, or even free, subsidies to the school should be given. However, these subsidies cost money. Therefore, some of the capital used for military expenditure should be used to offset the cost. Saudi Arabia exists in a very volatile area of the world. As a result, a high percentage of their Gross National Product (GNP) is used towards military activities and equipment. If the volatility of the area could be decreased, then less capital could be used on military expenditure. This extra capital could then be used to implement solution 1 above. To lower the volatility of the area, a treaty could be made between those nations. As these countries are enemies, they would not trust each other to abide by the treaties and would therefore not lower its military expenditures ‘just in case’. The help of the United Nations or the United States of America could be involved to assist in enforcing the abidement of the treaties. The government could try to institute a change in traditional beliefs on issues including birth control, equality between men and women and the need for an education. This could be achieved using propaganda, allowing issues involving these topics to arise in discussion and foreign press. If both the men and the women of a family being to work, then the family would have an increased income which could be used for better living conditions and lifestyle and to educate the children. However, this is very unlikely, as it is the government who holds onto the strict traditional beliefs of the country more than most citizens. To distribute the wealth of Saudi Arabia evenly, the oil revenue that goes to the oil sheiks could be taxed. This capital could be used as an education supplement (see solution 1) A combination of solutions 1, 2 and 4 should be used. The extra money derived from the saving military expenditure of solution 2 and from the taxation of oil revenues of solution 4 can be used to implement solution 1 for subsidizing schools. The improvement of education of all citizens of Saudi Arabia could possibly lead to a rise in the status of women through the empowerment of an education, a rise in the public opinion of challenging traditional accepted beliefs, a decrease in birthrate through teaching of birth control and the benefits of having less children and, a decrease in infant mortality as proper methods of looking after infants can be taught. All this would lead to a decrease in this nations characteristics of a third world nation, improve the development of Saudi Arabia and overall, increase in the quality of life of its citizens. The future of Saudi Arabia lies in the hands of its leaders. Only they can change the system of government and its policies. However, the system of discrimination and suppression of individual freedom has been deeply imbedded in its lifestyle and tradition change in the near future. It would take a major upheaval in the political structure of the nation. The prognosis for the development of democratic institution in Saudi Arabia observing basic human rights as covered by many aspects of the United Nations Charter is exceedingly poor. Saudi Arabia is a basically feudal state where the power rests in the Royal Family and its delegates, the oil sheiks. It is a dictatorship similar to the former government of Iran but with one basic difference. The Shah of Iran did provide education and health services but antagonised the religious leaders. The rulers of Saudi Arabia have drawn the Sunni Islamic Religious into its daily operations so that the rulers are also the heads of the religion. Therefore there is no religion opposition to them as there was to the Shah of Iran. The Royal Family of Saudi Arabia is synonymous with ‘religious correctness’. To oppose the Royal Family is to oppose the state religion and vice versa. There would not appear to be any popular movement for change. The western nations including the United States of America and the European Union would not move to insist on the democratisation of Saudi Arabia. The reason for this is bound up in the politics of oil. Any move that threatens the West with oil problems would not be countenanced. The apologist would say ‘don’t rock the boat – we want our oil’. Education is the only solution to ensure the development of Saudi Arabia into a modern and potentially tolerant society. Education begets knowledge and hopefully wisdom. Wisdom begets tolerance and fulfills basic human ideals. Lack of education begets continued ignorance, which begets intolerance, injustice and inhumanity. Bibliography: 1. Atlas Detail Statistics Output www.johnwiley.com.au/school/jacatlas/StatsDetail.cfm 2. Saudi Arabia 1cweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cdtdy:@field(DOCID+sa0038) 3. The Third World – Development and Interdependence, Rex Beddis, Oxford University Press, 1995, pgs. 148 – 155. 4. Britannica Book of the Year, Nations of the World, pgs 568, 701, 735-738. 5. Embassy of Saudi Arabia, U.S.A. www.saudi.net/mainpage.html 6. The Hamlyn Illustrated Encyclopedia, pgs. 512-513, The Hamlyn Publishing Group, London, 1988 Word Count: 2548
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