Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — President of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) Dr. Hala Al-Tuwaijri reviewed recent developments in the field of human rights in Saudi Arabia and the success of its Vision 2030 during a recent Saudi-EU dialogue.

The fourth round of the dialogue between Saudi Arabia and the European Union on human rights was led by Al-Tuwaijri from the Saudi side and the EU's Special Representative for Human Rights Olof Skoog on the European side.

“Saudi Arabia has achieved many reforms in human rights at various legislative, judicial and procedural levels within the framework of Vision 2030, which contributed to bringing about major positive changes on the ground and represented a roadmap toward comprehensive and sustainable development,” Dr. Al-Tuwaijri said.

She explained that building a strong legal framework that protects human rights and ensures there are no legislative loopholes through which systematic violations of rights occur is a priority to promote and protect human rights in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has also developed the legislative system in light of its commitment to human rights agreements, including amending many systems such as labor systems, protection from abuse, child protection, social security system, personal data protection system, elderly rights system, and a system for protecting whistleblowers, witnesses, experts, and victims.

One of the goals of Vision 2030 is to increase women’s participation in the labor market to 30% by 2030.

This target was exceeded in 2023, as women’s participation in the labor market reached 34%. She pointed out that by the third quarter of 2024, women’s participation in the labor market reached 35.4%, with a change rate of 108% since 2017.

Al-Tuwaijri indicated that the compliance rate with the wage protection system for expatriate workers reached 86.9% in 2023, compared to 50% in 2017.

She also stressed that Saudi Arabia is moving forward toward achieving sustainable development that is centered on the human being, who is its beneficiary, and taking all measures to protect the rights of all without discrimination.