The G20 and Human Wrongs: Why there will be no Justice at this Year’s Summit

International Media Centre – G20 Buenos Aires Summit. The philosopher Achille Mbembe asserted in late 2016 that the age of humanism is ending following the US and Europe’s descent into “authoritarian populism”, with the values that underpin human and civil rights being deposed by separatist impulses, asymmetrical wars, and deadly policing. At the G20 in Argentina, two years later, his analysis appears to still ring true.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) are working with the Argentine judiciary in an attempt to arrest and prosecute Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (who goes by the moniker “MBS”) during his attendance at the summit. While the timing of this corresponds with the findings of Turkish and US investigations, which concluded that MBS likely orchestrated the torture and murder of journalist and critic Jamal Khashoggi, HRW are building a case that also holds the leader to account for crimes against humanity in both Saudi Arabia and Yemen. This arrest is made possible, hypothetically speaking at any rate, through Argentina’s constitution, which recognises universal jurisdiction for the crimes of which the Crown Prince is accused.

In a recent TV interview, MBS defiantly declared that neither himself nor Saudi Arabia would be able to be separated from their allies so long as there is a king called Salman bin Abdulaziz on the throne in Riyadh. Undoubtedly he is correct in stating this, and it represents a key impediment to justice. The recognition of universal jurisdiction for war crimes or torture is by no means unique to Argentina, with this being the case for no less than 141 countries.

Yet, despite the existence of universal jurisdiction around the world, no high-profile prosecutions have occurred, with many states not applying it in order to avoid harming their political and economic interests. In Argentina, where it has been applied, a complaint was jointly filed by Spanish and Argentinian human rights organisations in 2010 against a number of Franco-era officials. Despite some attempts at extradition from Spain since then, no prosecutions have yet been made.

In her book, Failing to Protect: The UN and the Politicisation of Human Rights, the legal scholar Rosa Freedman comprehensively demonstrates that the political interests of UN member states block all but the least contentious of human rights cases. While he has suffered some embarrassment to his reputation, MBS does not have to look very hard to find allies who are desperate to retain their strategic allegiances with Saudi Arabia.

For the United Kingdom, with a particularly short queue of countries attempting to create post-Brexit trade deals, Saudi Arabia’s military action in Yemen has provided a consistent trade partner. In 2017, arms licensing deals were worth £1.5bn to the UK, with £1.13bn of this coming from deals with Saudi Arabia alone. Since the outbreak of the Yemeni civil war, the UK has licensed at least £4.7bn worth of arms to the Gulf state.

In the United States, meanwhile, we find Donald Trump, whose influence is under threat following the mid-term losses, denying the conclusions of his own intelligence service. His administration has subsequently stated that while the murder of Khashoggi is of concern, the US-Saudi relationship is too important to be threatened by the prince’s misdemeanours. This relationship also embraces a number of arms deals.

At this year’s G20 then, unlike thousands across Saudi Arabia and Yemen whose human rights – including the most basic right to life – are consistently abrogated, the only punishment to befall Mohammed Bin Salman will be a slight bruising of his reputation as a modernising force in the Middle East. While his allies – the leaders of nations that were instrumental in founding the legislation and infrastructures of human rights – may not wish to be pictured shaking his hands, it can be guaranteed that behind closed doors talks of greater ties will be underway.

G20 Team: Martina Alvarez, Sol de Bernado, Matthew Bishop, Holly Barden, Holly Clarke, Hugo Dobson, Camila Dolabjian, Jamie Firby, Martina Gallego, Eleanor Harris, Daniela Ibañez, Eitan Kiperman, Victoria Lapadula, Marianne Quinn, Alex Reynolds, Sofía Sant, Vipran Srivastava, Hayley Stevenson and Tom Wymer.

Image credit: Tim Green via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)