WORLD LEADERS should press King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to end religious discrimination in his own country during a meeting on religious tolerance being organised by the monarch at the United Nations this week, human rights groups have said.
More than a dozen leaders, including US president George Bush, Israeli president Shimon Peres and British prime minister Gordon Brown, were among those due to attend the two-day interfaith meeting. It is sponsored by Saudi Arabia, which the US state department lists as a country of "particular concern" because of its severe restrictions on religious freedom.
"There is no religious freedom in Saudi Arabia, yet the kingdom asks the world to listen to its message of religious tolerance," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "The dialogue should be about where religious intolerance runs deepest, and that includes Saudi Arabia." The UN does not officially sponsor religious discussions, so the session - which began here yesterday - is being called a meeting on the "culture of peace", and most of those attending are government rather than religious figures.
But critics say a country that oppresses its religious minorities lacks the moral authority to lead such a meeting. Saudi Arabia does not permit its citizens or expatriates to practise publicly any religion other than Islam, and a special religious force polices morality and attendance at prayers five times a day.
"Saudi Arabia is not qualified to be a leader in this dialogue at the United Nations," said Ali al-Ahmed, a Saudi who serves as director of the Washington-based Institute for Gulf Affairs. "It is the world headquarters of religious oppression and xenophobia."
Most European leaders have stayed away from the gathering and sent diplomats instead. Ireland is represented by Paul Kavanagh, Ambassador to the UN permanent mission. But the White House announced that Mr Bush will attend today, and will also meet with King Abdullah while in New York. "The president appreciates King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia's initiative in calling for this dialogue and remains committed to fostering interfaith harmony among all religions, both at home and abroad," his spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement.
UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon also commended King Abdullah for convening the meeting, saying he "exerted a great deal of time and energy to converge the differences of opinions into one". Asked at a press conference about the lack of religious tolerance in Saudi Arabia, Mr Ban avoided a direct answer, saying: "I hope that through our meetings of this kind of high-level dialogue, the whole world will be able to live in a society where more tolerance and a more harmonious and more peaceful atmosphere exist."
King Abdullah, promoted by Saudi Arabia as a moderate, met Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican last year, and brought Sunni and Shia clerics to Mecca in March and religious leaders to Madrid in June. Some liberals in Saudi Arabia praise his UN initiative and say such high-profile events pressure the conservatives at home who created the environment that feeds Islamist militancy.
Speaking for Israel, with which Saudi Arabia has no relations, Mr Peres yesterday directly addressed King Abdullah and other Saudi delegates to praise a Middle East peace initiative launched by Riyadh in 2002. "The initiative's portrayal of our region's future provides hope to the people and inspires confidence in the nations," he said. The proposal, initiated by Saudi Arabia in 2002 and ratified by Arab foreign ministers last year in Damascus, offers pan-Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for Israel's withdrawal from Arab lands captured in 1967.