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International desk: Canada is quietly nudging allies including Germany and Sweden for help with resolving its row with Saudi Arabia, a government source confirmed Thursday.<\/p>\nInternational desk: Canada is quietly nudging allies including Germany and Sweden for help with resolving its row with Saudi Arabia, a government source confirmed Thursday.<\/p>\n
The senior official, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the diplomacy, said Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland had spoken with her counterparts in the two European nations.<\/p>\n
Germany and Sweden previously were targets of Saudi backlashes for calling out the kingdom over human rights abuses.<\/p>\n
Freeland sought to understand how they resolved those disputes, and asked for their support, the official said. Ottawa also planned to reach out to regional heavyweight the United Arab Emirates and Britain, which has strong historical ties to Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s rights advocates, charitable organizations, and civil rights groups, meanwhile, urged the international community \u201cto join Canada in calling for the unequivocal respect of women\u2019s rights in Saudi Arabia.\u201d<\/p>\n
They also called for Riyadh to \u201cimmediately release\u201d women activists in detention, and commended Freeland \u201cfor her uncompromising stand for human rights, and for her bold leadership in walking the talk on women\u2019s rights globally.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe join Canada in urging Saudi Arabia to release women\u2019s rights activists Samar Badawi and Nassima al-Sada,\u201d said the statement signed by 22 non- governmental groups and individuals, including the Nobel Women\u2019s Initiatve, Oxfam, and Lawyers without Borders.<\/p>\n
Tensions have been high since Monday, when Riyadh expelled Canada\u2019s ambassador, recalled its own envoy and froze all new trade and investments after Ottawa denounced a crackdown on rights activists in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stood firm, saying: \u201cCanada will always speak strongly and clearly in private and in public on questions of human rights \u2026 at home and abroad, wherever we see the need.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCanadians expect that, and indeed people around the world expect that leadership from Canada,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Trudeau noted that Freeland had \u201ca long conversation\u201d on Tuesday with her counterpart Adel al-Jubeir to try to resolve the dispute.<\/p>\n
\u201cDiplomatic talks continue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Canada has been disappointed that Western powers including the United States \u2014 a key ally of Saudi Arabia \u2014 did not publicly support Ottawa.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth sides need to diplomatically resolve this together. We can\u2019t do it for them. They need to resolve it together,\u201d US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told a briefing on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
In March 2015, Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador from Stockholm over criticism by the Swedish foreign minister of Riyadh\u2019s human rights record.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Bloomberg News reported that Saudi Arabia was scaling back its dealings with some German companies amid a diplomatic spat with Berlin.<\/p>\n
The move came after Germany\u2019s foreign minister last November remarked that Lebanon was a \u201cpawn\u201d of Saudi Arabia after the surprise resignation of its Prime Minister Saad Hariri while in Riyadh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
International desk: Canada is quietly nudging allies including Germany and Sweden for help with resolving its row with Saudi Arabia, a government source confirmed Thursday. The senior official, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the diplomacy, said Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland had spoken with her counterparts in the two European […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":46368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n