The S&D Group expresses its full and unreserved solidarity with Margot Wallström, the foreign minister of Sweden after she came under fire from the Swedish right-wing, pro-arms-industry lobby, Saudi Arabia and the League of Arab states for her criticisms of the human-rights situation in Saudi Arabia.
S&D Group vice-president Knut Fleckenstein said:
"Dialogue is always the best way to conduct international relations and avoid misunderstandings between countries and peoples.
"Margot Wallström has justly criticised the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its human-rights record. As the European Parliament itself noted in its resolution on human rights in Saudi Arabia (adopted on 12 February), the Saudi political and social system remains profoundly undemocratic, makes women and religious minorities second-class citizens, seriously discriminates against the country’s large foreign workforce and severely represses all voices of dissent. The resolution also criticised Saudi Arabia for playing a leading role in financing, disseminating and promoting a particularly extreme interpretation of Islam worldwide.
"Yet when Margot Wallström spoke out on the human-rights situation in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi government – with the support of other governments from the League of Arab States (LAS) – retaliated by barring her from addressing the LAS, blocking visa requests for Swedish citizens and recalling its ambassador from Stockholm. The United Arab Emirates followed suit and also recalled its ambassador from Sweden.
"The S&D Group strongly supports Margot Wallström in her defence of human rights and firmly rejects attempts by Saudi Arabia and its allies to present her remarks as an attack on Islam. This is an utterly unacceptable misrepresentation of her statements, since the interpretation of Islam characteristic to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is by no means shared by all Muslims and, in fact, is only a minority view within the Muslim world.
"The S&D Group reiterates its conviction that only an ethical foreign policy, putting human rights at its centre, can successfully deal with the challenge of violent extremism in our geographical neighbourhood."
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