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Dear Mr Dimitri S. Kerkentzes,

We, the undersigned organisations, urge the Executive Committee of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) to exclude the candidacy of Saudi Arabia as a possible host for the 2030 Expo. We strongly believe the Kingdom’s hosting of entertainment and sports events constitutes whitewashing of the government’s repression and its abysmal human rights record...

In particular, we urge you to consider Saudi Arabia’s continued use of the death penalty, its crushing of human rights activism, silencing of women’s rights advocates, and targeting of dissidents beyond its borders, in addition to its draconian restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly, and association.

... While Saudi Arabia’s proposed theme for hosting the Expo in 2030, “The Era of Change: Together for a Foresighted Tomorrow,” appears to reflect these ambitions, its conduct is in stark contrast to the values and mission of the BIE and risks bringing the organisation and event into disrepute. The Saudi authorities’ systematic human rights violations flies in the face of the very spirit of World Expos.

Saudi Arabia continues to impose the death penalty extensively and arbitrarily, following unfair trials. In 2022, authorities executed 147 individuals, more than twice as many as the previous year despite Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s promise back in 2018 to curtail use of the death penalty. Executions have been carried out  against those accused of protesting unfair trials involving confessions extracted under torture, as well as academics, prisoners of conscience, and even minors. Currently, at least nine young men are at risk of execution for offences allegedly committed when they were minors...

Sincerely, 

Signatories:

ALQST for Human Rights, CIVICUS, Democracy for the Arab World Now - DAWN, European Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR), HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement, Human Rights Foundation (HRF), MENA Rights Group, Right Livelihood, Rights Realisation Centre, Salam for Democracy and Human Rights, Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM), World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)