Many children of foreign mothers, whose Saudi fathers had abandoned them, can never return to their rightful homeland, Saudi Arabia. Najeeb Al-Zamil, a businessman, member of the Shoura Council and an advocate, has been working for many years to reunite these children.
“In general, very little has happened in the way of improving the plight of these abandoned children abroad. In fact, the situation is worsening and becoming near impossible,” said Al-Zamil.
He explained that because many Saudi men do not legally marry abroad, and maintain mere "friendly" relations with foreign women, there is no legal paperwork to prove paternity.
“I have received an increasing amount of complaints and many new cases only in the past few months. Because I have to work on individual cases it takes quite a long time before we are successful in matching children with their Saudi fathers and bringing them to the Kingdom,” Al-Zamil continued, calling on more people to help in the cause.
“There is a great need for more qualified people to be in foreign countries and meet with these children and people and be on top of the situation, because things are slowly worsening,” he said.
Al-Zamil also said that another obstacle in uniting Saudi fathers with their abandoned children is the recent move by Muslim legal scholars in the Kingdom to prohibit the use of DNA testing.
“A few years ago, the task of uniting children with their father was made easier as we could make Saudi men, who denied paternity, take a DNA test. If he were the father, we would allow him to take his children home to the Kingdom, forcing him to accept his fatherly responsibilities. Due to the recent ruling by the Ulema, Muslim legal scholars claim that the use of DNA testing is prohibited in Islam. Now our efforts to help these children have become even more difficult and nearly impossible,” Al-Zamil explained.
Due to this obstacle, Al-Zamil said he had been mostly working on family cases, which have legal Islamic Marriage Certificates. But he still faces problems, as Saudi fathers deny these marriages and government agencies do not recognize certificates of marriages issued abroad.
“This is another major obstacles for us, as many government agencies in the Kingdom do not even look at these documents. In my opinion, these documents should be recognized for the sake of the children,” he clarified.
According to Saudi law, any Saudi man wishing to marry a foreign woman must first gain permission before doing so. Nonetheless, many men ignore this law or have temporary (misfar) marriages. This creates many social and economic problems.
Tawfiq Al-Suwailem, chairman of the Saudi Charitable Society of Saudi Families Abroad (Awasser), said in a January interview with Arab News that his organization provides financial assistance to children and families in 26 countries, including the United States, Canada, the Philippines, India, Indonesia, Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. In 2011, the organization reached out to 900 families abroad, spending SR 11 million in assistance with plans to spend an additional SR 10 million this year as instructed by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and Crown Prince Naif.
In order for the situation to improve, Al-Zamil said monetary as well as other types of assistance would be appreciated.
“I am calling for a re-examination and reinstatement of the use of DNA testing and for authorities to recognize marriage documents from abroad and above all we must trust Allah that we will be able to unite these children with their fathers and bring them home soon,” he said.
Children of Saudi fathers cry for help
