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Saudi Arabia Faulted for Feudal Justice
By Thalif Deen*

Taina Bien-Aimé heads Equality Now, which reports that more than 25 countries have repealed or amended laws that were discriminatory against women.


UNITED NATIONS, Mar 2, 2010 (IPS/TerraViva) - Against the backdrop of a two-week U.N. meeting on gender empowerment, the London-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has blasted the government of Saudi Arabia for its feudal system of justice where women continue to be victimised because of their gender.

A Saudi court has sentenced a woman, Sawsan Salim, to 300 lashes and 18 months in prison for filing harassment complaints without the required accompaniment by a male guardian.

While her husband was in prison, Salim sought the help of a local judge to gain the spouse's release.

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50521

The Arab or Middle Eastern slave trade continued into the early 20th century.[130] Slavery in Morocco was outlawed in the 1930s.[131] As recently as the 1950s, Saudi Arabia had an estimated 450,000 slaves, 20% of the population.[132][133] It is estimated that as many as 200,000 black south Sudanese children and women (mostly from the Dinka tribe sold by the Sudanese Arabs of the north) have been taken into slavery in Sudan during the Second Sudanese Civil War.[134][135] In Mauritania it is estimated that up to 600,000 men, women and children, or 20% of the population, are currently enslaved, many of them used as bonded labor.[136] Slavery in Mauritania was criminalized in August 2007.[137]
The Arab trade in slaves continued till the early 20th century. A noticeable amount of Iraqi women fleeing the Iraq War are trafficked abroad to countries like Syria, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Iran.[138]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_slavery

The child slaves of Saudi Arabia


Ali was beaten up for initially refusing to beg

Programme preview
On the wealthy streets of Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia, thousands of young child-beggars, under the auspices of ruthless gangmasters, are simply trying to survive.
Many hail from countries like Yemen which, despite bordering one of the Middle East's richest states, is a world away in terms of economic prosperity.

These children are often sold by families who are either duped into believing their offspring will get a better life or sometimes simply threatened.

Once in the country, they are likely to face beatings and are sometimes even mutilated as their Dickensian masters stoop to any low to try to improve the chances of them earning more money...

http://news.bbc.co.uk