RIYADH: Swiss Ambassador Dr. Andreas Schaller called on the president of Saudi Arabia’s Human Rights Commission, Awwad Al-Awwad, at his office in Riyadh on Tuesday.
During the meeting, they discussed several issues related to human rights. The Saudi rights chief highlighted the Kingdom’s measures for the protection of human rights.
Saudi Arabia is witnessing a qualitative leap in the field of human rights. The Kingdom’s Vision 2030 program is at the forefront of these reforms intended to focus on humans.
Among over 60 recent decisions made to improve the situation of human rights in the Kingdom, 22 were related to women.
These included issuing such laws as the Protection from Abuse Law and the Anti-Harassment Law, eliminating the guardianship system, allowing women to drive, ensuring greater female participation in the workforce, especially the legal sphere, dedicating a call center for domestic violence issues, establishing the Family Affairs Council (one of whose committees is devoted to women’s affairs) and setting up courts for family cases.
In November 2020, the Kingdom eased the sponsorship system for foreign expat workers, including contract restrictions that gave employers control over the lives of around 10 million migrant workers.
