Research Fellowship: Saudi Arabia Business & Human Rights
Part-Time Volunteer Position
Freedom Forward
Location: Remote / Flexible
Type: Volunteer Fellowship
Part Time: 5-10 hours / Week
Term: 3 months / renewable
About Freedom Forward:
Freedom Forward seeks an end to U.S. support for dictators, kings, and nondemocratic governments. We envision a world in which U.S. foreign policy is fully aligned with the hopes and aspirations of people who desire freedom.
Read more about us: https://freedomforward.org/about
About the Saudi Arabia Campaign:
Few people in the U.S. support the policies of Saudi Arabia’s brutal family dictatorship. Despite this, the U.S. government has long maintained a diplomatic and military alliance with the monarchy. This U.S. support makes it easier for the monarchy to continue its brutal repression of people who live in the country.
Freedom Forward is building a campaign to give people in the U.S. concrete steps they can take to end this alliance.
One element of this campaign will be to target major Western businesses that profit from Saudi Arabia’s economy but remain silent on the repression and brutality of the Saudi Arabian monarchy. In some cases, Western businesses may even passively facilitate or actively participate in such human rights violations.
The Saudi Arabian monarchy violates human rights in many different ways that may affect or involve the operations of Western and local businesses.
For example:
- Saudi Arabia’s monarchy purchases billions of dollars in arms from U.S. weapons manufacturers.
- Gender segregation and discrimination against women in Saudi Arabian workplaces affects countless business operations.
- Saudi Arabia’s ban on women driving may affect or involve auto-related businesses or Western auto sellers.
- The monarchy’s crackdown on online critics may involve internet service providers, internet-based companies, or even wifi providers.
- Foreign migrant workers face restrictive and abusive labor laws in Saudi Arabia, which Western businesses may benefit from or participate in.
- Western businesses may be involved in building the infrastructure for Saudi Arabia’s fundamentally unjust courts, prisons, and other related facilities.
About the Fellowship:
The Saudi Arabia Business & Human Rights Research Fellowship is a part-time volunteer position with Freedom Forward. The goal of this volunteer research fellowship is to develop a list of Western businesses with operations or investments in Saudi Arabia that are suitable targets for public activist human rights campaigns.
Suitable business targets can have the following characteristics:
- Sizeable presence in Saudi Arabia.Widespread brand recognition in the U.S. and/or other Western economies.
- Strong “grassroots” consumer base in the U.S. and/or other Western economies.
- A strong connection to one or more major human rights concerns in Saudi Arabia.
- An implicit “contradiction” between their Western brand and their silence or complicity in human rights concerns in Saudi Arabia.
Research fellows shall work together as a team under the supervision of Freedom Forward to develop a list of potential business targets. Research fellows may also devote time to developing campaign strategies for changing target businesses’ behaviors and pressuring the Saudi Arabian monarchy to embrace reform.
Desired Qualifications and Skills:
- Experience with research. Economic or business research experience is a plus.
- Knowledge and interest in Middle East politics, societies, and/or current events.
- Arabic language proficiency or fluency a plus, but not a requirement.
- Commitment to and interest in human rights, social justice, and/or corporate social responsibility.
- Motivation and ability to work independently
- Strong interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills. Strong attention to detail
- Experience with political advocacy and/or grassroots activism a plus.
To Apply:
Please email cover letter, resume, references, and a writing sample to: action@freedomforward.org
Please state preferred start / end dates and specific time availability.
Write “Saudi Arabia Research Fellowship” in the subject line.
Deadline:
Applications considered on a rolling basis during April and May of 2016.