Women’s March Global initiated a petition to United Nations entitled “Hold Saudi Arabia Accountable – Free Saudi Activists!”
Here is the text of the petition:
Saudi Arabia has arrested at least ten women’s rights activists for peacefully protesting the government’s treatment of women.
Join us in uniting with Saudi activists who demand that the United Nations hold Saudi Arabia accountable for human rights violations.
In Saudi Arabia, women have been campaigning for decades against a government which bans them from driving cars and requires that they seek the permission of a male guardian before traveling or making any major decisions. These laws limit women’s ability to move about their communities or accomplish even basic tasks, and make them extremely vulnerable to gendered abuse. There are even cases of women being imprisoned for attempting to escape their families.
Saudi activists believe these laws are oppressive and a violation of women’s human rights – and are now being arrested for speaking out for the oppression they face.
The arrests occurred as a retaliation against people who had challenged the driving ban, just weeks before the country was set to lift it. Now activists on the ground live in fear that there may be more arrests, and those being held have been denied access to any legal representation.
The UN must use its power to demand the immediate and unconditional release of all activists being detained solely for their human rights work.
Please join Women’s March Global and our Free Saudi Women Coalition in standing with Saudi women.