AllAboutLaw Blog: Saudi Arabia's far-reaching ambitions, a prison sector in flux and more.

This week’s edition of the AllAboutLaw Blog takes a look at Saudi Arabia’s ambitions to diversify its economy in the face of human-rights accusations, the change in the prison sector of the UK and the Human Rights Watch condemnation of Lebanon’s failure to implement a law.

Saudi Arabia’s bid to diversify its economy

Saudi Arabia is caught between two contrasting trajectories. On the one hand, the country is looking to expand its economy and improve its human rights record by launching a tourist visa for the first time and attributing a greater set of rights to its female inhabitants. On the other hand, the country is caught between mounting tensions and threats of war with Iran.

On Saturday, Saudi tourism officials announced a new visa programme for citizens of 49 countries, which include the UK and the US. The announcement was quickly followed by a social media campaign to attract visitors to the kingdom. To appeal to a wide demographic, acquiring a visa will reportedly take less than seven minutes and female tourists will not be required to wear the all-covering abaya robe. The drastic move to promote tourism in the region is one of the primary components to Prince Mohammed’s ambition to diversify the country’s economy in the wake of its post-oil era. 

The scheme to attract tourists to the region follows the condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s human rights record at the UN human rights council meeting last week. A selection of countries denounced the country’s deteriorating record for alleged use of torture, unlawful detentions and unfair trials of critics. This is particularly true following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi operatives exactly one year ago at the Istanbul consulate. In a TV documentary aired this week, Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, stated the responsibility he bears for the killing of the journalist “because it happened under [his] watch”.

To add to the turmoil, Saudi Arabia has positioned itself amid a diplomatic rift and escalating geopolitical tensions with Iran. These tensions are the result of an attack on Saudi oil facilities, which Mohammed bin Salman blames on Iran. As a result of these attacks and the increasing vulnerabilities to its economic infrastructure, Fitch, a New York-based rating agency cut Saudi Arabia's debt rating on Monday.

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“My legacy will be one of uncompromising, unflinching champion work” 

Jaribu Hill, civil rights and workers’ rights lawyer and a member of the Time's Up fund.

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Firm news

Law firms have released the number of training contracts they are offering in 2019—Linklaters comes at the top with 100 positions.

Allen & Overy’s gender pay gap appears to have widened, despite the firm's efforts to reverse such a trend.

Kenny Henderson, a Chambers-listed lawyer joins CMS as a litigation partner

Katherine Hardie, a leading property lawyer, is the first female to be appointed the head of law firm Pinsent Masons’ Scottish and Northern Irish operations.

DWF announced targets to improve its gender and ethnic minority recruitment, aiming for women to make of 33% of its executive board by 2022.

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The UK’s changing prison sector 

Prisons in the United Kingdom are struggling to remain afloat as a result of unsustainable funding cuts and overcrowding. For instance, government funding in the Scottish Prison Service has fallen by 12.5% since the 2014/15 financial year.

However, in early September, the Chancellor delivered the treasury’s spending plans for 2020-2021, which included the creation of an additional 10,000 prison places. The increase in allocated funds is in line with the Lord Chancellor’s announcement to increase the prison sentence of offenders who commit violent or sexual crimes. As the moment, these offenders tend to be released halfway through their sentence, whereas under his proposal convicted criminals will be required to serve at least two-thirds. This is likely to increase the number of prisoners by approximately 3,000 over the next decade. 

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The Human Rights Watch is on the case of Lebanon

A law designed to increase transparency in “the administrations” of Lebanon has failed in its objective, according to the Human Rights Watch. Otherwise known as the Right to Access to Information Law, it was introduced three years ago, with a purpose of obliging “the administrations”—all government bodies, public institutions, and institutions that perform public functions—to publish key documents. The law also allows citizens to request information. However, the Lebanese authorities have been criticised for failing to establish a body responsible for overseeing the implementation of the law. Research conducted by Gherbal Initiative found that the highest authorities did not comply with with the law, however, this is partly due to the lack of infrastructures and resources to abide by the law. Lebanese authorities must implement the law to “restore [the] citizens’ trust in their state”.

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