After the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, companies around the world rolled back their involvement in Neom, the megacity project being built on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast. However, since then, many have come on board as scrutiny surrounding the country's human rights abuses is put on the back burner. But Saudi Arabia’s past dismal human rights record is not the only reason why companies should reconsider their partnerships with the Kingdom. 

Neom, Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman’s flagship project, is a conglomerate of 10 projects, referred to as regions, of which four have been announced: Hexagon, Trojena, Sindalah, and 'The Line' - a 170 km-long and 200 metre-wide linear city, consisting of two parallel, 500-metre-high, skyscrapers.

In February 2023, 12 additional architectural studios from around the world were announced to be working on The Line: Adjaye Associates (UK), Morphosis (UK), Peter Cook's studio CHAP (UK), Pei Cobb Freed & Partners (US), Tom Wiscombe Architecture (US), Oyler Wu Collaborative (US), HOK (US), Austria studios Coop Himmelb(l)au (Austria), Delugan Meissl Associated Architects (Austria), Studio Fuksas (Italy), UNStudio (Netherlands) and OMA (Netherlands).

While it may not be realistic to expect companies to completely disengage with Neom, there is a crucial need to recognise and fulfil their human rights responsibilities, including to set out clear due diligence and ultimately prevent harms currently related to the project. So far, this has been lacking.

Dislocation and dispossession of a community

The planned development for Neom has caused the forced relocation of approximately 20,000 members of the Huwaitat tribe from their historic homeland, which is a gross violation of their rights and a blatant disregard for their cultural heritage.

In April 2017, the suspension of land transfers and licence renewals caused unease among the communities residing in the area selected for the Neom development in Saudi Arabia. They did not know the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) had already taken ownership of the entire land, well before the official announcement of the ambitious project in October that year.

Despite local residents' efforts to bring the matter to the attention of the authorities by lodging complaints, launching a campaign, and submitting petitions, their fears of being evicted were denied. Meanwhile, construction work was being carried out in secret, and private land acquisition orders were being issued in emergency cases. Finally, on 1 January 2020, the authorities informed the inhabitants of al-Khuraiba, Sharma and Gayal they would be compulsorily evicted, as their land was required for the Neom megacity project. This confirmed the long-standing concerns of locals and sparked outrage in the community.

Silencing and persecuting dissent

Neom is not, in fact, being built on “a virgin area”. To acquire the required 10,200 square miles (26,500 square kilometres) of land for this project, the Saudi government has unlawfully removed Indigenous groups from their homes without sufficient reimbursement or alternative lodging options and used force to suppress individuals from the tribe who peacefully protested or defied the eviction process.

Abdul Rahim al-Huwaiti, a member of the Huwaitat tribe, used social media to raise awareness about the forced evictions and was killed by Saudi security services in 2020 allegedly because of his activism. Saudi Arabia's Specialised Criminal Court has continued to violently crack down on members of the tribe who peacefully opposed or resisted eviction, by sentencing at least five individuals to death and at least 15 individuals to long prison terms between 15 and 50 years, as reported by the human rights organisation ALQST.

Surveillance concerns

The capabilities and technology integrated in Neom are likely to be used by Saudi Arabia’s authoritarian leader to further strengthen his grip on power through increased surveillance and monitoring. Thus, companies such as NVIDIA and Oracle must be extra cautious in making sure they do not help sophisticate the tools in the hands of a megalomaniacal dictator.

Even though the Saudi government is responsible for these human rights violations against the Huwaitat tribe and other Saudi citizens, companies are benefitting from these actions. Accepting contracts for designing architecture for Neom is morally reprehensible, as it directly supports and benefits from forced evictions, threats, and punishments inflicted upon those who resist.

Greenwashing

Neom – and The Line, in particular – have been criticised for the expected embodied carbon associated with building the project. Philip Oldfield, head of the built environment school at the University of New South Wales, has estimated that upwards of 1.8 billion tonnes of embodied carbon dioxide will be produced. This significantly undermines promises Neom is a first-of-its-kind, emission-free city.

Experts have also been concerned that the facades of the two mirrored skyscrapers would also harm animal and birdlife. The potential ecological and moral consequences of participating in a project must be weighed by any company against the professional accomplishment and compensation the work may provide - do the benefits outweigh the potential harm caused by their involvement in the project?

As companies across business sectors, including hospitality, engineering, architecture, construction, artificial intelligence and others, partner up with Neom for its seemingly utopian projects, the darker underbelly of the project must not be outshined by the shiny dollar bills the Saudi government is willing to mete out.

By Natasha Joseph, ALQST