I gotta hand it to ‘Human Rights Watch’ which seems to be the only private or public sector organization with the nerve to call-out Saudi Arabia.
The UN (where S.A. sits on the Human Rights Council) has been silent while it has been busy blasting Israel for its supposed mistreatment (“warehousing”) of Africans. Israel is not deporting thousands weekly and detention in Israel is in a new cushy facility where the would-be asylum seekers can leave for a portion of the day.
Saudi Arabia is clearing out its ethnic diversity! I guess they aren’t buying that multiculturalism is beautiful PR, or that they need to be charitable to their Muslim coreligionists.
Saudi Arabia for Saudis!
From Human Rights Watch:
(Nairobi) – Saudi authorities have deported more than 12,000 people to Somalia since January 1, 2014, including hundreds of women and children, without allowing any to make refugee claims. Saudi Arabia should end the summary deportations, which risk violating its international obligations not to return anyone to a place where their life or freedom is threatened or where they face other serious harm.
Seven Somalis recently deported from Saudi Arabia told Human Rights Watch researchers in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, that the Saudi authorities had detained them for weeks in appalling conditions and some said Saudi security personnel beat them. None had been allowed to speak with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to discuss possible refugee claims before being deported. UNHCR said in mid-January that “south central Somalia is a very dangerous place.” UNHCR also said the Saudi authorities have denied its staff access to detained Somalis in the country.
They don’t want those undocumented foreign workers! Are there jobs Saudis won’t do? Maybe not!
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says the Somali Interior Ministry expects Saudi Arabia to deport another 30,000 in the coming weeks. The deportations are part of a Saudi campaign to remove undocumented foreign workers.
We will be anxiously waiting for the Obama Administration and the UN to blast those racist unwelcoming Saudis!
Saudi Arabia has not ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention and does not have an asylum system.
[….]
Major donors to UNHCR, including the European Union and the United States, should press Saudi Arabia to end its deportations of Somalis.
Meanwhile, another boat load of Somalis was rescued at sea this week and taken to Italy where you know all hell would break loose and the UN would blast those Mediterranean countries if they dared deport even one of the Somali illegal aliens.