Expo 2030 – A Saudi Attempt to Whitewash Its Bloodstained Record of Repression, Executions, and Migrant Abuse
In yet another desperate attempt to cleanse its tarnished reputation, Saudi Arabia has officially submitted its bid to host Expo 2030, using glossy PR campaigns and empty promises to cover up its brutal reality. This move is just another chapter in the regime’s long-standing strategy of reputation laundering, aimed at concealing its continuous crimes against its own citizens and residents.
No international event or public relations stunt can erase the fact that Saudi Arabia is a repressive state that rules with an iron fist, filling its prisons with political dissidents and silencing opposition through mass executions following sham trials. The regime also systematically exploits hundreds of thousands of migrant workers, forcing them to work under inhumane conditions without legal protections or basic rights.
Mass Executions and Sham Trials: A Judiciary Designed for Oppression
Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s top executioners, regularly carrying out mass executions after trials that fail to meet even the most basic standards of justice. In March 2022, the Saudi government executed 81 people in a single day, marking one of the largest mass executions in its history. Among them were political detainees sentenced based on confessions extracted under torture. These executions are not an exception but rather a deliberate policy used to suppress dissent and instill fear in society.
The country’s prisons hold hundreds of academics, journalists, and activists, including Salman Al-Odah, Waleed Abu Al-Khair, and Manahel Al-Otaibi, many of whom face extreme sentences, including life imprisonment or execution, simply for advocating reforms or expressing their opinions.
Brutal Exploitation of Migrant Workers: Modern Slavery Disguised as Development
While Saudi Arabia spends billions on vanity projects like Expo 2030, NEOM, and the 2034 FIFA World Cup, these projects are built on the backs of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers who are subjected to systematic abuse. Many are forced to work in extreme heat, underpaid, and denied legal protections. Workers in construction and service sectors face passport confiscation, long working hours under life-threatening conditions, and arbitrary dismissal without compensation.
Despite its claims of reform and modernization, Saudi Arabia continues to uphold the exploitative Kafala system, which gives employers total control over migrant workers’ lives, exposing them to severe abuses, including human trafficking.
Saudi Border Guards’ Crimes: Migrants Shot Dead in Cold Blood
Saudi Arabia’s Expo 2030 bid was submitted just days after a shocking report exposed the atrocities committed by Saudi border guards against Ethiopian migrants attempting to cross into the country in search of a better life. The report, backed by harrowing testimonies, revealed that Saudi forces killed hundreds of migrants—including men, women, and children—using heavy weapons and sniper fire.
Some survivors described extreme torture, being left to bleed to death, and women being subjected to rape and sexual violence. These war crimes expose the true face of a regime that markets itself as open and progressive while committing some of the most heinous human rights violations with complete impunity.
Global Complicity: Saudi Money Buys Silence
Instead of holding Saudi Arabia accountable for its rampant human rights abuses, the international community continues to reward the regime with major global platforms, just as it did when FIFA granted Saudi Arabia the 2034 World Cup after a corrupt campaign fueled by bribes and political influence. Now, Saudi Arabia is using the same playbook for Expo 2030, offering hundreds of millions of dollars to buy support from poorer nations while hiding its authoritarian reality behind flashy promises of innovation and progress.
Expo 2030 Should Not Be a Cover for Saudi Arabia’s Crimes
If the international community is truly committed to human rights and justice, it must not allow a country that executes dissidents, imprisons activists, and brutalizes migrant workers to host a global event like Expo 2030. Granting Saudi Arabia this platform would legitimize its repression and provide a new tool for its propaganda machine.
We call on the United Nations, the European Union, and human rights organizations to take a firm stance against Saudi Arabia’s bid for Expo 2030. Instead of rewarding a brutal dictatorship with prestigious global events, the world must hold Saudi Arabia accountable for its crimes.
No international event should be used as a cover for whitewashing human rights abuses. If the world still claims to stand for justice, it cannot ignore Saudi Arabia’s atrocities in exchange for money and influence. Expo 2030 in Saudi Arabia means legitimizing repression and participating in whitewashing oppression and bloodshed.
