Minorities in Search of special human rights system
Case Study: Shiites in Saudi Arabia
Document Type : Original Article
Abstract
This research is about the special system of Shiite human rights in Saudi Arabia. According to the international law, there are many different definitions for the concept of minority;and many of the scholars believe that minorities must be subject to certain human rights system to have extra support, besides taking advantage of the universal human rights, due to their vulnerability against the ruling majority . Considering this fact that based on the internationally accepted definitions and principles, the Saudi Arabian Shiites are regarded as a religious minority and in spite of Saudi government not excepting them as a religious minority, they have certain rights to preserve their existence and identity. One of the most fundamental rights of the Saudi Arabian Shiites is the right of self-determination that in this article it’s going to evaluated using the descriptive-analytical method. The result shows that the Shiites of Saudi Arabia as a specific group, are subject to the religious minority whose identity and rights must necessarily be recognized and protected by the Saudi government.
