Three independent rights organizations found Saudi Arabia's official Human Rights Commission has spent 20 years covering up abuses rather than investigating them

In September 2025, on the 20th anniversary of Saudi Arabia's state-created Human Rights Commission (SHRC), a joint investigation by MENA Rights Group, ALQST and the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR) found the SHRC has failed to investigate rights violations, provide remedies to victims, or publish credible assessments of the country's human rights situation. The report documents the SHRC's silence amid at least 272 recorded executions between January and August 2025 and its failure to act on reprisals against detained activists such as Manahel al-Otaibi and travel bans on figures including Loujain al-Hathloul's family.