Tech firms pressured over Saudi app link

E-government portal allows tracking women

WASHINGTON • Apple and Google are being urged to immediately stop offering a Saudi e-government app that allows men in Saudi Arabia to track and control the movement of women.

In a letter sent to the tech giants Monday, Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden urged them to prevent their app stores from being used by the Saudi government to continue the “abhorrent surveillance and control of women.”

Human rights groups are also calling on Apple and Google to consider the abuse and discrimination that the app could fuel.

Absher, an app people can download on the Google Play store and Apple’s app store, works as an e-government portal and general services software for the Saudi Interior Ministry. It allows Saudi citizens to process a host of personal status issues such as getting a passport, a birth certificate or vehicle registration.

But the app, according to human rights advocates, also facilitates Saudi Arabia’s patriarchal guardianship system.

It remains illegal for women in Saudi Arabia to travel without permission from a so-called male guardian. Under this system of laws and practices, women in the kingdom need the approval of a “guardian,” typically a male relative, for a range of decisions and actions, including marriage, employment with private companies, certain types of health care and release from prison, said Adam Coogle, a Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Using Absher, Saudi men can restrict the travel of Saudi women by first allowing or disallowing them to leave the country, and the men can also limit the dates and places women are permitted to travel.

“We call on Apple and Google to assess the risk of human rights abuses on women, which is facilitated by the App, and mitigate the harm that the App has on women,” Amnesty International said in a statement Tuesday. “The use of the Absher app to curtail the movement of women once again highlights the disturbing system of discrimination against women under the guardianship system and the need for genuine human rights reforms in the country, rather than just social and economic reforms.”

The Saudi Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Apple does not include the number of downloads for apps, but according to the Google Play store, Absher has been installed on devices more than one million times. The Interior Ministry says on its website that Absher platforms for individuals and businesses have more than 11 million users.

Google and Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.