Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the Middle East but is the third largest Arab country.

Jordan and Iraq border it to the north, Kuwait and Qatar to the northeast, United Arab Emirates to the east, Oman to the southeast and Yemen to the south. The Red Sea is its west coast and the Persian Gulf its east coast.

Founded in 1932 by Abdul-Aziz bin Saud, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is today now the world’s largest oil exporter and has the largest reserves. The oil accounts for more that 90% of exports from the country and almost 75% of the government’s revenues.

Capital: Riyadh
Population: 28,687,000, 5.5 million non-nationals
Language: Arabic
Government: Absolute Monarchy
King: Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz
Religion: Muslim

The Saudi Arabia government is an absolute monarchy, but in 1992 the king must comply with the Sharia or Islamic law, and the Qur’an. No political parties or national elections are allowed or held in Saudi Arabia.

Criticism of the Saudi Arabia government continues due to the treatment of religious and political minorities, homosexuality, apostates and women. In October 1997 Saudi Arabia ratified the International Convention against Torture according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The National Society for Human Rights, established in 2004, was the first independent human rights organization in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has many violations of Human Rights due to its long traditions of the Islamic way of life. There is still Capital Punishment, with amputations, flogging, and beheading and punishment for braking of the law. Women’s Rights are another Human Rights problem in Saudi Arabia, even though women’s rights have improved in the last decade or so. Also among the list of Human Rights problems or violations in Saudi Arabia are religious freedom, only Islamic is allowed, LGBT Rights, Political Right, no freedom of speech or press, and violations on AID/HIV.