A federal commission says it’s disappointed the Saudis still are inciting violence in their school textbooks after such materials were thought to have been removed.
A new report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom explains the schoolbooks in use in Saudi Arabia right now have “content promoting violence and hatred toward religious minorities and others.”
“While the Saudi government has been engaged in textbook reform for the last 15 years, the presence of these passages makes clear how little progress has been made and highlights an immediate need for the Audi government to more seriously address this issue,” the agency said.
“USCIRF is disappointed to find inflammatory content in Saudi textbooks that was previously thought to have been removed,” said USCIRF Chairman Daniel Mark, on behalf of the independent, bipartisan commission – the first of its kind in the world.
The commission monitors religious rights around the world and makes policy recommendations to the president and the secretary of state.
“USCIRF had been encouraged by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s efforts over the past year, particularly the initial implementation of the Vision 2030 program and his recent statement that Saudi Arabia is ‘open to all religions and to the world.’ Such initiatives and sentiments could serve as a strong basis for improving freedom of religion or belief in the Kingdom, including through much-needed textbook reform,” Mark said.
The commission said its study found schoolbook content promoting hatred and violence, which means the work of the “last 15 years” has produced almost no improvement.
“The presence of these passages makes clear how little progress has been made and highlights an immediate need for the Saudi government to more seriously address this issue, as well as the exportation of these textbooks internationally, as a part of its ambitious reform process,” the report said
Reviewed were high school religion textbooks from 2017-2018, which included several passages that were “thought to have been removed.”
They extolled jihad, called for the execution of non-believers and demeaned all non-Muslims.
“USCIRF urges Congress and the administration to make textbook reform a priority in its engagement with the Saudi government, especially in light of that government’s progress in other areas of reform,” said Mark. “USCIRF also encourages Congress to pass the Saudi Educational Transparency and Reform Act, which would require annual reports on religious intolerance in Saudi educational materials, in order to ensure long-term monitoring and assessments on progress or lack thereof.”
Last year, the commission listed Saudi Arabia as a Country of Particular Concern for “engaging or tolerating systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom.”
