The accession of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to four international conventions in the field of human rights has revealed a considerable agreement between Saudi regulations and the international conventions and documents pertaining to the protection of human rights and their guarantees. Researchers in the field of human rights agreed that the clear harmony between Saudi regulations and the international conventions has had a great effect on the Kingdom's election as a member of the first Council of Human Rights of the United Nations Organization and the acceleration of the pace of the Kingdom's accession to the rest of the international conventions in this regard. According to a report of Human Rights Commission, special studies attributed this convergence to the Kingdom's application of Islamic Sharia (law) in all walks of life, noting that this application provides full guarantees of equality, the rule of law for all groups and care of orphans, the poor, the sick, prisoners, widows and other groups. This application embodies the basic law of government in the Kingdom which clearly provides for the protection of human rights emanating from the Islamic Sharia and its major source of the Holy Quran and Prophet's Sunnah (Teachings). The studies agreed that the harmony between Saudi regulations and the international conventions on human rights has been clear for earlier time when the Kingdom voted for the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was officially adopted on December 10,1948. Among 30 articles of the declaration, the Kingdom reserved only for two articles allowing marriage between followers of different religions and the change of one's religion as they clearly contradict the Islamic law. The researchers summarized the harmony between Saudi regulations and the contents of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights their general agreement on the protection of the rights of life, security, litigation and human dignity. It is noteworthy that the Kingdom acceded to the International Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in 1997; the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in December 2000; the Convention against Torture and other cruel or inhuman treatment in 1997; and the International Convention for the Protection of Rights of the Child in February 1996.
