The Dakar Rally, a leading international off-road endurance race, is set to take place in Saudi Arabia in January – and campaigners are urging those involved to stand in solidarity with the victims of Saudi human rights abuses.
The event, organised by the French Amaury Sport Organisation, is due to take place 3-15 January, and is known as the “world’s most challenging rally”. But groups including the International Federation for Human Rights have called on “Participants, Organizers, Sponsors, and Official Broadcasters” to “#StandWithSaudiHeroes” – those languishing in Saudi prisons, or otherwise detained, having been denied basic human rights.
The race is set to weave through numerous Saudi regions, including several days in Neom, the beleaguered $500bn megacity project set to be built on land occupied by the Huwaitat tribe for centuries.
Opponents have labeled the rally as an example of “sportswashing” – attempts to cover up human rights abuses with major international sporting events.
David Castera, the director of the rally, has said it “signed in to a development program in Saudi Arabia that is moving towards more openness” – but this is just the latest such statement from organisations claiming that working with the regime is somehow changing it. If that is the case, where are the results so far?
In a statement signed by 15 human rights groups, including the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, the MENA Rights Group, the Freedom Initiative and the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, they write: “Saudi Arabia is using the 2021 Dakar Rally as part of an extensive public relations campaign to improve its current image and influence the tourism sector in the Kingdom, instead of addressing gross human rights abuses.
“In recent years, Saudi Arabia has been increasingly scrutinized for its human rights record after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Lack of transparency in the investigation into Khashoggi’s murder, combined with the government’s crackdown on human rights defenders and peaceful dissenting voices, and the Kingdom’s role in war crimes committed during its military operations in Yemen, have led to mounting pressure from the international community.”
The statement adds: “The signatory organizations believe that ASO should reexamine its position on holding prestigious international sporting events in countries where gross human rights abuses take place, and adopt human rights policies that align with their commitment of ‘constantly developing new environmentally friendly and community-minded solutions’. A human rights policy that enshrines the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights will help ASO increase transparency and accountability.”
It continues: “The undersigned NGOs call upon the Dakar Rally participants, organizers, sponsors, media outlets, government institutions, businesses and supporters to urge the Saudi authorities to release immediately and unconditionally all dissidents and human rights defenders currently in jail for their peaceful activism and take a stand to help counter the Saudi government’s public relations campaign by highlighting the true face of Saudi Arabia.”
The Dakar Rally will likely introduce millions of people around the world to Neom as a place of both amazing natural beauty and high adrenalin motor racing – with human rights abuses, displacements, and dictatorship hidden in a cloud of dust.
But human rights campaigners around the world are dedicated to revealing the truth behind the Saudi regime and projects like Neom.
