Topic:
Country: Saudi Arabia
Delegate Name: Ava Surdam
We have made many great progressions in this country over the years. For example, we introduced free universal healthcare in 2019. We have much less civil unrest within our country than many others because of the beliefs we all share through the beautiful religion, Islam. However, the Principle of Universal Jurisdiction is still under debate in Saudi Arabia. We would like to be able to support the Principle, as it allows justice to be served. We believe in the theory, but the integrity of the process is questionable because there is no clear outline for the types of crimes that apply and the processes within the court as well as during prosecution.
Saudi Arabia believes that Universal Jurisdiction is crucial in working against criminals, and all States should utilize the idea to enforce justice. Still, the unclear standards and rules hold us back from fully trusting the judicial system of another country with our citizens. Before we can fully trust the integrity of Universal Jurisdiction, a couple of things need to be straightened out. For example, the type of crimes that this idea will enforce, and other issues with the content and format of the current definition and rules regarding the idea of Universal Jurisdiction. However, Saudi Arabia supports all principles in accordance with the Global Jurisdiction Principle and the general ideas and intents of Universal Jurisdiction.
In the past, many States of the UN were pushed to utilize Universal Jurisdiction against Saudi Arabia when faced with allegations against our beloved crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. Saudi Arabia fought back out of distrust for the findings of the United States government and their judicial system along with the responsibility to protect our leader and his name. In order for Saudi Arabia to utilize Universal Jurisdiction and to allow other States to put our citizens on trial, an outline must be written that clearly describes the details of the Principle. This outline should include the type of crimes that can be tried and the processes within the court that tries them. Many countries have very politicized court systems which causes them to be untrustworthy and leads many to believe that a fair trial simply cannot be conducted. Saudi Arabia also wishes for a court policy to be written that solely regards cases under Universal Jurisdiction. This policy should include a diverse Jury with representatives from the prosecution’s country of residence and representatives from the country of residence of the defendant. I don’t even trust strangers from my country, so why should my government put their full trust in people from other countries, who don’t even fully understand our beliefs? In order for Saudi Arabia to fully support the Principle of Universal Jurisdiction, we must be presented with a clear outline and court policy that ensures the integrity of processes within the court.
