The US Department of State is required by Congress to issue annual reports on human rights around the world. Work on compiling the reports starts in the summer, with a deadline for the various embassies to submit their reporting in the Fall, a deadline that misses any new activity, pro or con. A process of editing and back-and-forth conversations between the Office of Democracy, Human Rights, and labor and the field posts continues over the Winter and the report is published in March.

As would be expected, Saudi Arabia fairs poorly when it comes to human rights. It’s not a black hole, but the gravity is severe. Problems range from torture and rape in prisons to jailing those expressing unpopular political opinion. Some problems are systemic; others appear to be miscarriages resulting from individual acts of government officials. And of course, religious freedom (itself the subject of another annual report) really doesn’t exist in the Kingdom.

From the Introduction of the 2009 Human Rights Report:

… Violence against women, violations of the rights of children, and discrimination on the basis of gender, religion, sect, and ethnicity were common in many countries in the Middle East region. In Saudi Arabia, for example, Muslim religious practices that conflict with the government’s interpretation of Sunni Islam are discriminated against and public religious expression by non-Muslims is prohibited. Human rights activists reported more progress in women’s rights than in other areas, and the government made efforts to integrate women into mainstream society, for example, through the founding of the Kingdom’s first coeducational university in September. However, discrimination against women was a significant problem, demonstrated by the lack of women’s autonomy, freedom of movement, and economic independence; discriminatory practices surrounding divorce and child custody; the absence of a law criminalizing violence against women; and difficulties preventing women from escaping abusive environments. There are no laws specifically prohibiting domestic violence. Under the country’s interpretation of Shari’a (Islamic law), rape is a punishable criminal offense with a wide range of penalties from flogging to execution. Statistics on incidents of rape were not available, but press reports and observers indicated rape against women and boys was a serious problem.
…

The country-specific report for Saudi Arabia is pretty comprehensive. The negative and positive review is encapsulated in the two paragraphs below. Read the entire report for specifics and expanded discussion:

During the year the following significant human rights problems were reported: no right to change the government peacefully; disappearances; torture and physical abuse; poor prison and detention center conditions; arbitrary arrest and incommunicado detention; denial of public trials and lack of due process in the judicial system; political prisoners; restrictions on civil liberties such as freedoms of speech (including the Internet), assembly, association, movement, and severe restrictions on religious freedom; and corruption and lack of government transparency. Violence against women, violations of the rights of children, and discrimination on the basis of gender, religion, sect, and ethnicity were common. The employment sponsorship system limited the rights of foreign workers and remained a severe problem.

Significant human rights achievements during the year included implementation of the overhaul of the kingdom’s judicial system announced in 2007 that included the establishment of a new supreme court, regional appeals courts, and specialized courts for general, criminal, personal status, commercial, and labor cases; systematic review of judicial decisions; and transferring responsibility for hiring, training and supervision of judges from the Ministry of Justice to the reorganized Supreme Judicial Council. Supporting these reforms, the king reorganized the Senior Council of Religious Scholars to include representatives of all four schools of Sunni jurisprudence to broaden the sources for Shari’a (Islamic law) interpretations. The passage of a new Law to Combat Trafficking in Persons has led to training of law enforcement officials on the application of the law. The first coeducational university, the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, opened its doors and the king appointed the first female cabinet-level official, a deputy minister for women’s education.
…