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Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Citizenship and Country Documents

US Government Reports

Foreign Government Reports

  • Canada Responses to Information Requests (RIRs)
    • SAU106227.E - Saudi Arabia: Residency permits through sponsorship, including the foreigner's family members eligible to be sponsored; the process for a sponsor to revoke their sponsorship and whether the foreigner receives documentation that the sponsorship has been revoked – Jan. 2019
    • SAU106224.E - Saudi Arabia: Range of documents and information available to an individual through the Ministry of Interior (MOI) website; information required in order to access personal information through government websites – Jan. 2019
    • SAU105539.E - Situation of Bidoons, including ability to obtain a passport; whether a person born to a Saudi mother and Bidoon father can obtain Saudi citizenship, and would be issued a Saudi passport as a minor - Jun 2016
    • SAU105398.E - Exit procedures and documents required for resident foreigners who leave the country; exit visas and their appearance; whether the Iqama is cancelled when a resident leaves the country; whether someone holding a valid Iqama can return to the country after leaving; whether foreign workers who are forced to retire can remain in the country - Jan. 2016
    • ZZZ105007.E - Requirements and procedures for a citizen of Ethiopia to obtain an Ethiopian biometric passport in Saudi Arabia; instances in which a passport would not be issued after application - Nov. 2014
    • ZZZ104924.E - Work and residence permits; citizenship rights for children born to Syrians in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - August 2014
    • SAU41575.E - Saudi Arabia - Whether citizenship is granted by virtue of being born in Saudi Arabia; whether the children of a permanent resident of Saudi Arabia be considered citizens by sole virtue of their birth in that country; whether a citizen of Pakistan who has resided in Saudi Arabia for 28 years as a permanent resident can apply and eventually obtain Saudi citizenship - June 2003

Non-Government Reports

  • Amnesty International
    • Saudi Arabia: “It’s like we are not human”: Forced returns, abhorrent detention conditions of Ethiopian migrants in Saudi Arabia - Dec. 2022

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Children

US Government Reports

  • United States Commission on International Religious Freedom - Special Reports
    • Study Revealed Numerous Passages in Saudi Textbooks Advocating Intolerance and Violence – May 2018
    • A Survey of 2017-2018 Saudi Middle and High School Textbooks – Nov. 2018

Foreign Government Reports

  • Canada Responses to Information Requests (RIRs)
    • SAU106048.E: Saudi Arabia: Residence status of foreign husbands married to Saudi women and children born to foreign fathers and Saudi mothers, including access to employment, education, health care and other services, and the ability to travel in and out of the country – Jan. 2018
    • SAU41553.E - Saudi Arabia - Follow-up to SAU40228.E of 29 October 2002 on whether Saudi Arabian laws concerning child custody are applicable to Palestinians in Saudi Arabia, and parental rights with regard to child custody following a divorce - May 2003

Non-Government Organization Reports

  • Amnesty International Reports
    • Manifesto for Repression: Saudi Arabia’s Forthcoming Penal Code Must Uphold Human Rights in Line with International Law and Standards - Mar. 2024
    • Report on executions of persons who were children at the rime of the offence (covering 1990 - 2022) -  May 2023
  • Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
    • Child Soldiers Global Report - 2008
  • Human Rights Watch
    • Adults Before Their Time – Children in Saudi Arabia’s Criminal Justice System – March 2008

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Corruption

Not Available

 

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Disabilities

Not Available

 

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Elections

Non-Government Organization Reports

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Ethnic Groups / Race

 

Foreign Government Reports

  • Canada Responses to Information Requests (RIRs)
    • SAU104729.E - Treatment of racial minorities, particularly black African Saudi nationals, by society and authorities - January 2014

Non-Government Organization Reports

  • Human Rights Watch
    • The Ismailis of Najran:  Second-class Saudi Citizens – Sept. 2008
  • Minority Rights Group International - State of the World's Minorities - 2016

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Gender

US Government Reports

  • United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)
    • Saudi Guardianship:   Guardianship, Women, and Religious Freedom in Saudi Arabia – Nov. 2020
    • Women and Religious Freedom: Synergies and Opportunities – July 2017
  • Congressional Research Service (CRS)
    • Women in the Middle East and North Africa: Issues for Congress – Dec. 2021

Foreign Government Reports

  • Canada Responses to Information Requests (RIRs)
    • SAU106048.E: Saudi Arabia: Residence status of foreign husbands married to Saudi women and children born to foreign fathers and Saudi mothers, including access to employment, education, health care and other services, and the ability to travel in and out of the country – Jan. 2018
    • SAU100598.FE - Forced and arranged marriages; people who arrange the marriages; whether such marriages take place within the extended family; the age of couples who are married through forced and arranged marriages; whether one can refuse an arranged marriage; whether arranged marriages are limited to a particular religious or social group (2003 - 2005) - October 2005
    • SAU43102.FE - Treatment of a man who had sexual relations with a woman who was already engaged to another man, including his treatment by Saudi society, by the woman's family, by her fiancé's family and by Saudi authorities - November 2004

Non-Government Organization Reports

  • Amnesty International
    • Manifesto for Repression: Saudi Arabia’s Forthcoming Penal Code Must Uphold Human Rights in Line with International Law and Standards - Mar. 2024
  • Human Rights Watch Profiles
    • Trapped - How Male Guardianship Policies Restrict Women’s Travel and Mobility in the Middle East and North Africa - July 2023
    • Boxed In: Women and Saudi Arabia's Male Guardianship System - July 2016
    • “Steps of the Devil” Denial of Women and Girls’ Right to Sport in Saudi Arabia - February 2012
    • Perpetual Minors – Human Rights Abuses Stemming from Male Guardianship and Sex Segregation in Saudi Arabia – April 2008

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Human Rights

US Government Reports

Foreign Government Reports

  • Canada Responses to Information Requests (RIRs)
    • SAU105183.E - Rights of non-citizens born in Saudi Arabia to non-citizen Saudi-born parents, including residency, employment, education and access to social services; whether a non-citizen can return to Saudi Arabia after the "Return Before" date on their re-entry visa has lapsed - May 2015

Non-Government Organization Reports

  • Amnesty International Global Report:  Death Sentences and Executions – 2020
  • Amnesty International
    • Manifesto for Repression: Saudi Arabia’s Forthcoming Penal Code Must Uphold Human Rights in Line with International Law and Standards - Mar. 2024
    • Amnesty International Report 2022/23: The state of the world’s human rights - Mar. 2023
    • Saudi Arabia: “It’s like we are not human”: Forced returns, abhorrent detention conditions of Ethiopian migrants in Saudi Arabia - Dec. 2022
    • Human Rights in the Middle East and North Africa: Review of 2018
    • Affront to Justice - Death Penalty in Saudi Arabia - Oct 2008
  • Freedom House 
    • Freedom in the World - 2023
    • Transnational Repression Report -  2021
    • Worst of the Worst: The Worlds Most Repressive Societies - 2012
  • Human Rights Watch –  2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011
  • Human Rights Watch Profiles
    • Trapped - How Male Guardianship Policies Restrict Women’s Travel and Mobility in the Middle East and North Africa - July 2023
    • The High Cost of Change:  Repression Under Saudi Crown Prince Tarnishes Reforms – Nov. 2019
    • Challenging the Red Lines – Stories of Rights Activists in Saudi Arabia – Dec. 2013
    • “As If I Am Not Human” - Abuses against Asian Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia - July 2008
    • Denied Dignity - Systematic Discrimination and Hostility toward Saudi Shia Citizens - September 2009

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Justice System

Non-Government Organization Reports

  • Amnesty International
    • Manifesto for Repression: Saudi Arabia’s Forthcoming Penal Code Must Uphold Human Rights in Line with International Law and Standards - Mar. 2024
    • Covid-19 Crackdowns - Police Abuse and the Global Pandemic – Dec. 2020
    • “This Is Worse Than Covid-19” Ethiopians Abandoned and Abused in Saudi Prisons – Oct. 2020
    • Muzzling Critical Voices:  Politicized Trials Before Saudi Arabia’s Specialized Criminal Court – Feb. 2020
    • Dissident Voices Stifled in the Eastern Province - May 2012
  • Human Rights Watch Profiles
    • “Caught in a Web” Treatment of Pakistanis in the Saudi Criminal Justice System – March 2018
    • Human Rights and Saudi Arabia’s Counterterrorism Response – Religious Counseling, Indefinite Detention, and Flawed Trials – August 2009
    • Precarious Justice – Arbitrary Detention and Unfair Trials in the Deficient Criminal Justice System of Saudi Arabia – March 2008

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Law

US Government Reports

  • United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
    • Violating Rights – Enforcing the World’s Blasphemy Laws – Dec. 2020
    • Respecting Rights? Measuring the World’s Blasphemy Laws – July 2017

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Maps

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Medical Availability

Intergovernmental Organization Reports

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Political Figures and Parties

US Government Reports

Foreign Government Reports

  • Canada Responses to Information Requests (RIRs)
    • SAU43129.E - Al-Islahiyeen (a group of liberal reformers in Saudi Arabia); treatment by the government; size; goals - November 2014

Non-Governmental Organization Reports

  • Human Rights Watch Profiles
    • Looser Rein, Uncertain Gain - A Human Rights Assessment of Five Years of King Abdullah’s Reforms in Saudi Arabia - September 2010

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Refugees

Foreign Government Reports

  • Canada Responses to Information Requests (RIRs)
    • SAU40789.E - Status of a Palestinian who returns to Saudi Arabia after studying abroad for one year; requirements for return; situation of Palestinians in Saudi Arabia - January 2003

Non-Government Organization Reports

  • Amnesty International
    • Saudi Arabia: “It’s like we are not human”: Forced returns, abhorrent detention conditions of Ethiopian migrants in Saudi Arabia - Dec. 2022
  • Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
    • Severity of internal displacement Report - Nov. 2021

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Religion

US Government Reports

Non-Government Organization Reports

  • Human Rights Watch Profiles
    • “They Are Not Our Brothers” Hate Speech by Saudi Officials – Sept. 2017
  • Institute on Religion and Public Policy - Religious Freedom in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
  • Minority Rights Group International - Still invisible – the stigmatization of Shi’a and other religious minorities in Saudi Arabia – Dec. 2015

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Sexual Orientation

US Government Reports

  • U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom - Factsheet on Shari’a and LGBTI Persons – March 2021

Foreign Government Reports

  • Canada Responses to Information Requests (RIRs)
    • SAU102125.E - Treatment of homosexuals by authorities and by society in general; recourse available to those who have been targeted because of their sexual orientation - March 2007

Non-Government Organization Reports

  • Amnesty International
    • Manifesto for Repression: Saudi Arabia’s Forthcoming Penal Code Must Uphold Human Rights in Line with International Law and Standards - Mar. 2024

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Speech / Press / Internet

Non-Government Organization Reports

  • Amnesty International
    • Eliminating dissent: Amnesty International’s submission to the 45th session of the UPR Working Group, January-February 2024 - Sept. 2023 
    • Eliminating dissent: Amnesty International’s submission to the 45th session of the UPR Working Group, January-February 2024 - Aug. 2023 
    • Saudi Arabia’s Post-G20 Crackdown On Expression: Resumption Of Crackdown On Free Speech, Human Rights Activism And Use Of The Death Penalty – Aug. 2021
  • Freedom House

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Timeline

Media

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Trafficking

US Government Reports

Non-Government Organization Reports

  • Amnesty International
    • Manifesto for Repression: Saudi Arabia’s Forthcoming Penal Code Must Uphold Human Rights in Line with International Law and Standards - Mar. 2024

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Terrorism

US Government Reports

Non-Government Organization Reports

  • Amnesty International
    • Assaulting Human Rights In The Name of Counter-Terrorism - July 2009

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Torture

Not Available

 

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Updated March 20, 2024