Dakar 2020 - Saudi Arabia - Things you might not know.

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The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) last week issued a statement urging sponsors to cancel sponsorship, citing Saudi Arabia’s criminalisation of homosexuality and its systemic repression of women's rights.

Homosexuality is illegal and punishable by death in the Gulf State, ruled over by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. In April, the Saudi authorities beheaded five men who allegedly confessed to having had gay sex.

Despite attempts at reform, women in Saudi Arabia are still subject to a myriad of restrictions on everyday life. Here are some of them:
Human Rights Watch has called Saudi Arabia’s guardianship system “the most significant impediment to realising women’s rights in the country”. All women in the kingdom are considered to have a male “wali” – an official guardian, typically a father, brother, uncle or husband.

Although guardianship is not enshrined in written law, government officials, courts, businesses and individual Saudis generally act in accordance with it, meaning that, in practice, women need their guardian’s consent for any major activity, including travel, obtaining a passport, getting married or divorced and signing contracts.

The system makes it “nearly impossible” for victims of domestic violence or sexual abuse to obtain legal redress, because the police often insist that women and girls obtain their guardian's authorisation to file a complaint - even when the complaint is against the guardian, explains political scientist Elham Manea in an article for German newspaper Deutsche Welle.

In May 2017, activists won a small but significant victory when King Salman issued an order specifying that women did not need permission from their male guardian for some activities, including entering university, taking a job and undergoing surgery.

Women’s rights groups in the country are now lobbying for the end of guardianship in Saudi society, often using the social media hashtag “#IAmMyOwnGuardian”.

In 2015, Saudi Arabia proposed hosting an Olympic Games without women. “Our society can be very conservative,” said Prince Fahad bin Jalawi al-Saud, a consultant to the Saudi Olympic Committee. “It has a hard time accepting that women can compete in sports.”

When Saudi Arabia sent female athletes to the Olympics for the first time, at London 2012, hardline clerics denounced the two competitors as “prostitutes”. The women also had to be accompanied by a male guardian and cover their hair.

Women are required to limit the amount of time spent with men to whom they are not related. The majority of public buildings, including offices, banks and universities, have separate entrances for the different sexes.

Public transportation, parks, beaches and amusement parks are also segregated in most parts of the country. Unlawful mixing can lead to criminal charges being brought against both parties, but women typically face harsher punishment.
 
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