WRITTEN QUESTION E-0185/02 by Carlos Carnero González (PSE) to the Council. Execution of three male Saudi Arabian citizens on grounds of homosexual relations.
Date: 2002-02-05
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU relations, Saudi Arabia, common foreign and security policy, death penalty, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, right to justice

C 205 E/88

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

29.8.2002

Starting in the second half of this year, the Commission will strive to ensure that all buildings housing
Commissioners will have at least one receptionist in addition to security personnel.

For many years, security control for access to all Commission buildings has operated on a contractual
basis. Personnel provided by the contractor are required to be able to address visitors in at least two of the
languages of the Institution, one of which should be a working language.

The Commission now occupies more than 60 buildings in Brussels. The principal buildings of the
Commission have receptionists on duty. These are officials who are specifically trained to welcome visitors.
They speak various Community languages including, at least, French and English. In Commission buildings
generally, however, there is a security desk to register visitors but no reception desk as such. Visitors to
those buildings mainly tend to come to the Commission by appointment, and they originate from all 15
Members States as well as ( increasingly ( from the candidate states for accession to the Union, and also
from other countries in all parts of the world.

The Commission has a representation office in Brussels, located at rue Archimede 73, and an Info Point
Europe, at rue de la Loi 242, where visitors can find documentation in all official languages. In addition,
assistance can be provided in several languages, including the national languages of Belgium.

(2002/C 205 E/098)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0185/02

by Carlos Carnero González (PSE) to the Council

(5 February 2002)

Subject: Execution of three male Saudi Arabian citizens on grounds of homosexual relations

According to recent media reports, three male Saudi Arabian citizens (Ali bin Hatan bin Saad, Muhammad
bin Suleiman bin Muhammad, and Muhammad bin Khalil bin Abdullah) were recently executed by
beheading, having been sentenced to death after being found ‘guilty’ of homosexual relations.

These reports once again brutally show up how fundamental human rights ( such as, in these cases, the
right to choose one’s sexual orientation ( are systematically violated in Saudi Arabia, in a context where
the death penalty continues to be applied.

We are dealing on both counts with attitudes which run totally counter to the values affirmed by the EU in
the framework of the common foreign and security policy.

What has the Council’s response been to this news? What measures has it adopted or will it adopt to
including the rights of homosexual
ensure that the Saudi Arabian government respects human rights,
citizens, and abolishes the death penalty?

Reply

(21 May 2002)

The EU is actively working for the abolition of the death penalty worldwide. As regards Saudi Arabia,
human rights issues, including the death penalty, are addressed in bilateral contacts and in the context of
the political dialogue with the Gulf Cooperation Council, of which Saudi Arabia is a member.