Verdict of the Week


Saudi Royal Visit

There has been much criticism of the British Government this week for allowing King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to visit the Queen. The argument is that with we should not be granting State visits to leaders of countries with such terrible Human Rights records, especially after he have some careless remarks about the British not doing enough to fight terrorism,.

The eCourt Assessment Team are not experts in the Middle East and can only assess the situation from press and media reporting of the event which can often be misleading when it comes to gauging certain situations, especially political ones such as these. Also neither the press, media nor eCourt, have access to all the confidential Foreign Office reports on these matters and so we are really reporting from a slightly one sided viewpoint.

Clearly the Saudi trade situation will be a factor that any head of State or Government would be foolish to ignore. To cut them off would be tantamount to financial suicide. Yes, their Human Rights record over the years has not been one by which a Western culture necessarily aspire to, but is it our job to tell other cultures how to behave.

We still grant such visits to many other nations in the name of diplomacy, tolerance and forbearance. After all if we judge another nation are we not opening ourselves up to accusations of bigotry and prejudice ourselves.

Many cultures would argue that the USA's own Human Rights record in Guantanamo Bay and policing the planet as self appointed storm troopers, could be deemed to be equally bad, and yet we continue to hold talks and negotiate with all these nations.

The new Saudi king is, after all, fairly new, and we cannot hold him personally responsible for all the atrocities carried out by his people. That would be like holding the Queen responsible for any wayward police brutality that occurs in our own country.

The new King is looking to improve on their Human Rights record and especially the subjugation of women, and even if his furthest reforms may not match what we in the west would consider to be enough, he does empathises with many western viewpoints. We must remember that he still has to please his own power bases in his homeland, with all their own history, cultures and national traditions to consider. He has a tough balancing act to pull off.

If we really want to continue to think of ourselves as a more tolerant culture, then perhaps we should lead by an example of tolerance and broad-mindedness.

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