The woman had the painful experience when she went to a police station in her home district after her 10-year-old son was sexually assaulted by some young men.
The police’ willingness to act came following a directive from the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) to investigate the woman’s complaint.
The NSHR’s Jeddah branch told Arab News that it asked the police director of Qunfudah to take immediate action in the issue, as the law of the country guarantees justice to all, irrespective of sex or nationality.
In another development, the NSHR has demanded the Kingdom’s highest religious bodies, such as the Supreme Council of Ifta and Islamic Fiqh Academy, to issue fatwas criminalizing and banning violence, particularly toward children. The move comes as part of the NSHR’s two-month campaign to end violence against children.
The rights body also underscored the need for swift action to launch a supreme council for women and another one for children in line with relevant orders of the higher authorities.
According to the figures supplied by the NSHR, there has been a drastic fall in the level of violence against children over the past two years. It received only 154 cases of child abuse in 2009 and 2010, while it received 1,284 cases of family abuse, most of them involving children, between 2004 and 2008.
