The United Nations and human rights organizations criticized Saudi Arabia’s choice to host the G20 summit next year.
UN Rapporteur Agnes Kalamar called on the world’s major powers to reconsider holding the upcoming G20 summit in Saudi Arabia as the perpetrators of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, are not held accountable yet.
Kalamar, the UN Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings who chaired an investigation into the case, said in her report last month that she had found “credible evidence” of “the legal responsibility of senior Saudi officials, including the Crown Prince,” for the operation.
Kalamar said during a visit to Washington that the next G20 summit scheduled for November 2020 in Riyadh provides an opportunity to put pressure on Saudi Arabia.
“The political accountability for Mr. Khashoggi’s killing means that the summit must not take place. Something also must be done to ensure that the political system in the United States does not become complicit in that international crime,” she said at the Brookings Institution.
“It is essential to insist on what we do face-to-face with Saudi and not about 15 or 17 individuals,” she said.
She also called for restrictions on Saudi access to surveillance technology and said the government had shown it “unreliable.”
The administration of President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Saudi individuals but maintained warm relations with the kingdom.
Kalamar said she had not held any meetings at the White House during her visit to Washington.
Annes Kalamar has urged the United States to act on its findings.
Kalamar concluded that Khashoggi’s death was “extrajudicial execution” by the Gulf kingdom and criticized the United States for failing to act.
She said in a conference in London hosted by human rights groups Tuesday on the killing of a Saudi journalist that the United States “has jurisdiction or at least an interest in taking action.”
“Silence is not an option. Speech is required but not enough. We have to move,” she said. “Washington could act either through an investigation by the FBI or through civil law investigation … (or) declassification of material possessed by the CIA and other materials,” she added.
“All those things I think can be done and done,” she said.
Kalamar began her investigation in January and issued a 101-page-report last month that found “credible evidence” linking Saudi Crown Prince Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the murder.
The report recommended further investigation and financial sanctions.
The Special Rapporteur noted that she had not received cooperation from Riyadh and had received little cooperation from the United States.
“The United States has not done what it has best. They have done the minimum to stay within the limits of what is expected of a Western government,” she said.
Kalamar said she had no chance of meeting the CIA, US Justice Department, or other Trump officials.
Kalamar said the West risked being hit by a “democratic deficit” by not responding to the widespread public disgust of the killing.
“This is dangerous… that democratic deficit must be addressed,” she said.
Kalamar does not speak on behalf of the United Nations but informs it of her findings. Secretary-General António Guterres has called for an international criminal investigation into the case. However, his office said that he did not have the authority to do so, and a Member State should proceed with that procedure.
Khadija Genghis, the Turkish Khashoggi’s fiance, appeared next to Kalamar in London and stressed the call for justice. “We ask all European countries, especially the United Kingdom, to take this report more seriously. It is very dangerous to act as if nothing has happened.”