The Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia

The Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia is a non-profit 501 ( c) (3 ) tax exempt organization, headquartered in Washington DC. CDHR was founded by Dr. Ali Alyami, executive director, to promote transformation of all Saudi institutions. CDHR is dedicated to the promotion of a non-sectarian and participatory political system where all citizens' rights are protected under the rule of law, protected by a democratic National Constitution.

Given the religious and economic importance of Saudi Arabia to the 1.2 billion Muslims and the international community at large, democratizing Saudi Arabia will resonate throughout Arab and Muslim countries and beyond. like other peoples, the Saudi people can be productive, live in harmony with each other, with other peoples and will embrace democracy and its empowering values.

CDHR promotes: Empowering the appointed Shura Council to become elected legislative national parliament, religious freedom for all peoples, empowerment of Saudi women to participate in all decision-making processes, tolerance of and respect for religious minority, freedom of the press and all forms of expressions and assemblages, as well as privatization of all government's industries and public utilities

Issues

The Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia focuses on five main issues regardingthe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

* Political Reform

* Religious Freedom

* Women's Rights

* Minority Rights

* Economic Reform

Political Reform

The Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia supports the promotion of a democratically governed Saudi Arabia. Due to its influence on an estimated 1.2 billion Muslims around the world, and its location with relation to the world's oil market, The Center believes that "Saudi Arabia cannot be disregarded or surrendered to an absolute monarchy that encourages the oppression of women and religious minorities, and fosters domestic extremism and international terrorism." [Political Reformhttp://www.cdhr.info/Campaigns/PoliticalReformBriefing] By creating a constitutional, democratic government pared with the rule of law, CDHR feels that a more prosperous and united Saudi Arabia will emerge, which is not only for the best interest for the Saudi people, but the United States and all other democratic societies.

In order to do this, CDHR has consulted with democratic and constitutional experts and has devoted itself to creating a "blueprint" [Political Reform] for a new democratic political structure in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They have proposed the following steps in doing so:

The holding of full and fair, internationally verified municipal elections as a first step towards the complete democratization of the Saudi political system. Regional and national elections are to follow local elections. All citizens of voting age should have the right to vote, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity or religious orientation, at all levels of the democratic process (locally, regionally, and nationally). Representation at all levels of government is to be directly proportional to the percentage of the vote obtained in the elections by any candidate or party. To ensure fair political representation of both individuals and regions, the number of seats available for each body of government should be prescribed by the Constitution and directly related to the results of a regularly and independently held National Census. The new political structure is to be designed so that each of the five main regions enjoys equal representation at the national level in a legislative body.

A non-sectarian national Constitution should be voted on and approved in a referendum by all citizens of voting age and thereafter upheld by a politically independent Constitutional Court. The national Constitution should be amendable only by an affirmative vote of an increased majority in the national representative bodies, followed by regional ratification. Military, police, information agencies and militias, both regional and national, should be under civilian authority and employed only for national or regional security and defense priorities and for the protection of citizens’ rights and safety. All positions of public service, whether civilian or military, shall have limited terms of office and restricted mandates, and are to be regulated by the country’s regional laws and national Constitution where the national Constitution shall at all times take precedence over all regional laws.

All levels of Saudi Government should adhere to the highest standards of transparency and accountability. The holy shrines in Makkah (Mecca) and Madinah (Medina) should have their own elected governing council with representatives from all Muslim countries. This council’s mandate will be limited to religious affairs and it will have no political influence in the affairs of the Saudi state.

[Political Reform]

By making these changes, The Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia believes that the people in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will embrace democracy,a free market economy, tolerance, and in turn share in extreme productivity economically and socially. [Political Reform]

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Religious Freedom

Religious freedom is an extremely important issue for The Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia. Currently, it is forbidden to practice any other religion in The Kingdom other than Wahhabism, which is the state-sanctioned interpretation of Islam. Representative of an estimated one percent of Muslims in Saudi Arabia, Wahhabism is considered by most to be and extremist sect of Islam that openly sponsors terrorism and the persecution of other religions. While modest efforts have been made by the Saudi government to modernize their strict adherence to Wahhabism and to try and separate them selfs from the negative aspects of this particular brand of Islam(2008 Interfaith Conference. Madrid,Spain) , CDHR believes that “unless the international community takes concrete measures to discourage the Saudi institutions from promoting religious hatred in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab world, the consequences could be catastrophic.” [http://www.cdhr.info/Campaigns/ReligiousFreedomBriefing Religious Freedom]

External links

* http://www.cdhr.info (official website)