Divisive G20 host Saudi Arabia gears up for summit

November 21, 2020

Saudi King Salman, 84 years old and in frail health, is set to preside over this weekend’s virtual G20 summit from Riyadh. The global COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, and the G20 is facing an unprecedented global economic crisis.

The Saudi G20 presidency has calculated that the world’s most important industrial and emerging economies, including the European Union, plan to invest some $11 trillion (€9.2 trillion) to protect the global economy from the impact of the pandemic. In addition, $21 billion has been set aside for vaccines, medicine and treatment, and earlier this year the World Bank pledged $14 billion to help the world’s poorest countries handle their debt commitments.

At this weekend’s summit, 19 heads of state and government and representatives of the EU will discuss whether these enormous sums will be enough, or whether more is necessary. The debate is likely to be heated, considering the states’ contradictory interests. The United States, still headed by President Donald Trump, is no fan of international institutions, while the EU is backing global cooperation when it comes to a coronavirus response, for example in matters of vaccine distribution.

Read more: From North Korea to Middle East: Trump’s diplomacy evaluated

Competition over Africa’s resources

Many of the world’s poorer states, which don’t have a seat at the G20 table, aren’t expecting too much from the summit. Yves Ekoue Amaizo, a political expert from the western African nation of Togo who now lives in Vienna, doubts that any debts will be waived — at most, he said, there may be some talk of debt relief, but only for interest rates.

Read more: Why Africa needs a new financial system

“They have no interest to get rid of anybody who owes them something. It will be a major discussion,” he said, predicting that China, the US, Russia and the EU would argue about how to secure easier and cheaper access to African resources and productive capacity with loans and investments. He said there would be pressure, possibly an economic war. “And you know in Africa there is not much, so it will be the raw material.”

Infographic showing the G20 states and guest countries

Some lawmakers in the US and the EU have expressed their doubts about this summit being hosted by an absolute monarchy such as Saudi Arabia. The European Parliament has called on the heads of the European Commission and European Council, Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, not to take part in person, and instead send representatives to the virtual talks.

“It would be better not to send a high-level delegation but one that can deliver a strong message to the Saudi authorities,” Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella told DW.

Read more: Saudi ‘kafala’ labor reforms leave devil in the detail

However, the European Commission has said this summit isn’t about the situation in Saudi Arabia, but about global matters such as the economic crisis and climate change. “We do not fix the agenda of the G20,” said Commission spokesman Eric Mamer. “These are events which follow a very, very strict agenda and protocol order when it comes to speaking and of course these are the conditions under which the Commission will be participating in the G20.”

Human rights not on the agenda

There is unlikely to be much public criticism of Saudi Arabia’s human rights record during the summit. And yet, there is plenty to discuss in that area. Just one example: The 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent critic of the Saudi government, in the Saudi Embassy in Istanbul remains unresolved, even though Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been accused of having given the order.

Read more: High-profile arrests in Saudi Arabia shore up crown prince’s power

Rothna Begum, a women’s rights researcher with Human Rights Watch who has been observing the situation in the Saudi kingdom for years, told DW the disappearance of opponents is only the tip of the iceberg.

“Saudi Arabia has a dire human rights situation,” she said. “This is a state that continues a war with Yemen, its neighbor. It is continuing to repress human rights defenders and critics in its own country, jailing dozens of dissidents and anyone who has remotely shown some form of criticism. And it continues to discriminate against women through its male guardianship system, in which it relegates women to second-class citizens in their own country.”

During its yearlong G20 presidency, the crown prince and other members of the Saudi royal family have tried to lend the kingdom a new image, one that is more accessible and open to reform. And in recent years, they have made some effort to modernize an extremely conservative system, in which men make most decisions for women. New laws allowing women to drive and to apply for a passport without authorization from a male guardian drew much attention, but Begum pointed out the hypocrisy.

Read more: Yemen’s dead and injured children haunt Saudi-led war

“The crown prince is seeking to take the credit for the very reforms that these women have demanded while jailing the women who have actually caused these reforms, and that is ridiculous,” she said. “If they want to be seen as reformers for women’s rights, they cannot be jailing the very women who demanded these reforms as well.”

Fanning the flames of regional conflict

Saudi Arabia, which looks abroad to buy arms from US and European manufacturers, is also accused of promoting conflict in the region. “Muslim-majority countries in Africa are sending their people to fight in Yemen for the Saudis,” explained Ekoue Amaizo, pointing out their motivation for doing so. “The amount of money and investment they are getting back in their country is so high, and the silence of Saudis and many other countries who support them on the corruption issue is so important.”

EU diplomats have warned against high expectations from the summit. For them, the G20 is not a community of values but a business club, a place where democratic states must find a way to talk with more autocratic regimes such as Russia, China or Saudi Arabia, with all their different interests.

This article has been translated from German.

Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline

1955: First school for girls, 1970: First university for women

Girls have not always been able to go to school like these students in Riyadh. Enrollment at the first school for girls, Dar Al Hanan, began in 1955. The Riyadh College of Education, the first higher education institution for women, opened in 1970.

Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline

2001: ID cards for women

At the start of the 21st century, women could get personal ID cards for the first time. The cards are the only way for them to prove who they are, for example in disputes relating to inheritance or property issues. IDs were only issued with the permission of a woman’s guardian, though, and to the guardian instead of directly to the woman. Only in 2006 were women able to get IDs without permission.

Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline

2005: End of forced marriages – on paper

Saudi Arabia banned forced marriage in 2005, but marriage contracts continue to be hammered out between the husband-to-be and the father of the bride, not the bride herself.

Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline

2009: The first female government minister

In 2009, King Abdullah appointed the first female minister to Saudi Arabia’s government. Noura al-Fayez became the deputy education minister for women’s affairs.

Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline

2012: First female Olympic athletes

Saudi Arabia agreed to allow female athletes to compete on the national team for the Olympics for the first time. One of them was Sarah Attar, who ran the women’s 800 meter race at the 2012 Olympics in London wearing a headscarf. Before the Games, there was speculation that the Saudi Arabian team might be banned for gender discrimination if they didn’t allow women to participate.

Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline

2013: Women are allowed to ride bicycles and motorbikes

Saudi leaders allowed women to ride bicycles and motorbikes for the first time in 2013 — but only in recreational areas, wearing full Islamic body covering and with a male relative present.

Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline

2013: First women in the Shura

In February 2013, King Abdullah swore in the first 30 women to the Shura, Saudi Arabia’s consultative council. This allowed women to be appointed to these positions, soon they would be allowed to actually run for office…

Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline

2015: Women can vote and get elected

In Saudi Arabia’s 2015 municipal elections, women were able to vote and run for office for the first time. By contrast, New Zealand was the first country to give women the vote, in 1893. Germany did so in 1919. At the 2015 Saudi polls, 20 women were elected to municipal roles in the absolute monarchy.

Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline

2017: First female head of the Saudi stock exchange

In February 2017, the Saudi stock exchange names the first female chairperson in its history, Sarah Al Suhaimi.

Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline

2018: Women to be allowed in sports stadiums

On October 29, 2017, the country’s General Sports Authority announced that women would be allowed into sports stadiums for the first time. Three previously male-only arenas will soon be open for women as well, starting in early 2018.

Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline

2018: Driving ban eliminated

On September 26, 2017, Saudi Arabia announced that women would soon be allowed to drive, causing a flurry of driving courses for women to prepare for June 2018, when they would no longer need permission from their male guardian to get a driver’s license or need their guardian in the car when they drive.

Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline

2019: Saudi women to be notified by text message if they are divorced

The new law, designed to protect them from having their marriage ended without their knowledge, will allow women to check their marital status online or visit a court to get a copy of divorce papers. Human rights defenders say the law does nothing to address the fact that Saudi women can only obtain divorces in exceedingly limited cases — such as with her husband’s consent or if he has harmed her.

Author: Carla Bleiker