United Nations officials removed criticisms of the Saudi government from the official record of a UN-organized internet governance conference in Riyadh in December 2024, and retaliated against civil society organizations, Human Rights Watch said today. The events at the 19th annual UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) were the latest example of repressive government hosting a major UN conference censoring and intimidating civil society representatives.
The IGF secretariat censored criticism of Saudi Arabia by a well-known Saudi human rights defender at a Human Rights Watch workshop, threatened to eject Human Rights Watch's Saudi Arabia researcher, and confiscated materials highlighting the cases of human rights defenders.
"The UN and its member states should put an end to a climate of intimidation and censorship toward diplomats, journalists, human rights advocates, and other civil society representatives at UN conferences," said Deborah Brown, deputy technology, rights, and investigations director at Human Rights Watch. "Restricting participants ability to speak freely about internet policy issues, including issues relevant in the host country, undermines the IGF's purpose."
The UN secretary-general's spokesperson did not have an immediate comment when contacted by Human Rights Watch.
The IGF is the UN's main forum for dialogue on internet-related public policy issues. Its annual conference has repeatedly been held in countries where freedom of expression and dissent are highly restricted. Journalists and civil society representatives have faced similar censorship at previous conferences and at UN-organized Climate Change Conference (COP28) in the United Arab Emirates in December 2023.
The IGF secretariat removed criticisms of the Saudi government from the official video record and transcript of the workshop co-hosted by Human Rights Watch and ALQST, a Saudi human rights organization based in London. The workshop, "The UN Cybercrime Treaty and Transnational Repression," which was approved by the organizers, featured Lina al-Hathloul, the head of advocacy at ALQST and the sister of formerly detained Saudi human rights defender Loujain al-Hathloul. Lina al-Hathloul and other representatives of digital rights organizations did not participate in person due to serious concerns about their safety.
The workshop focused on the UN Convention against Cybercrime and its potential impact on human rights using case studies from Saudi Arabia and countries in Latin America to illustrate how existing cybercrime and anti-terrorism laws are used to target activists and how the treaty could exacerbate these abuses. A video of the session was posted to the IGF YouTube channel after the session. The IGF then deleted the recording on December 19 and also removed the session transcript from its website.
On January 13, 2025, the IGF published an edited version of the video to its YouTube channel with significant portions of al-Hathloul's remarks removed. This included cases of Saudi rights defenders imprisoned and the use of Saudi Arabia's anti-cybercrime and counterterrorism laws to target peaceful activism and online speech, as well as concerns that civil society was not able to be present at the IGF in Riyadh due to safety concerns. The IGF also edited out the names and details of cases of human rights defenders for whom a moment of silence was held. The secretariat also removed this content from the session's online transcript.
"In Saudi Arabia, laws such as the counter-terrorism law and the anti-cybercrime law define criminal offenses in dangerously vague terms," al-Hathloul said during the workshop. "These laws are routinely used to target peaceful activism and free speech."
The edited video included a note on the screen that content had been removed from the record for violating the IGF code of conduct, and quoted the stipulation that IGF participants should "Focus discussion or remarks on issues rather than on particular actors, whether they be individuals, groups, organizations or governments, and refrain from personal or ad hominem attacks."
Human Rights Watch wrote to the secretariat on December 19, 2024, requesting information about the removals. The UN officials responded on December 22 citing that same section of the code of conduct. The secretariat said the decision was "non-appealable," and did not respond to specific questions concerning how and why this policy was interpreted.
While the workshop included case studies from Saudi Arabia and countries in Latin America, the IGF only censored references to Saudi Arabia.
Joey Shea, the Human Rights Watch Saudi Arabia researcher, moderated the session and began with a moment of silence for human rights defenders detained throughout the Middle East in relation to their online expression, including Muhammad and Assad al-Ghamdi, two Saudi brothers imprisoned for their peaceful social media activity, the imprisoned Egyptian blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah, the imprisoned Emirati blogger and human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor, and others. Shea's mention of specific detained human rights activists does not comprise a "personal or ad hominem attack," and Shea did not mention which governments imprisoned these activists.
UN officials told Shea that the host government had complained and requested that the UN revoke the badge accrediting her to attend the conference. The officials referred to a video Human Rights Watch posted to social media citing the case of Muhammad al-Ghamdi, as the basis of the host country's complaint. The officials also stated that Shea's naming of specific human rights defenders during the workshop may constitute a code of conduct violation. They said they would have to discuss whether to revoke her badge with the UN headquarters in New York. Shea's badge was ultimately not revoked.
In its response to the December 19 letter, UN officials did not deny that the host government made the request but said that "the Secretariat operates independently and in accordance with established internal guidelines and code of conduct for meetings. It is committed to maintaining a neutral and secure environment for all participants. The Secretariat does not act on directives from external entities, including host governments, when making decisions related to participation or access."
Secretariat staff also confiscated fliers from Amnesty International's booth at the conference which highlighted the case of detained Saudi women's rights activist, Manahel al-Otaibi, and of Neth Nahara, detained in Angola because of comments on TikTok.
Civil society has come under pressure at previous IGFs for either criticizing the host country or engaging in peaceful protest.
The UN should ensure the safety of participants at all conferences that bear its logo, including the IGF. And if a state cannot guarantee the ability of all participants to freely participate, it should be disqualified as a potential host, Human Rights Watch said.
"The UN and its member states should be working to defend freedom of expression and facilitate vibrant civil society participation at all of its conferences, not participating in abuses by host governments," Brown said. "With the IGF's mandate up for renewal later this year it is all the more critical for the UN to ensure that civil society can participate safely in future annual forums and forgo using its arbitrary code of conduct."
