RIYADH, 11 April 2005 — Former Riyadh Supreme Court Judge Dr. Yossif Al-Jaber has called for the establishment of a women’s section in public courts. He has also suggested the appointment of court sociologists and psychiatrists as well as an increase in the number of judges in the courts.
Dr. Al-Jaber made these suggestions initially at the 3rd National Dialogue Forum at the King Abdul Aziz Center in Riyadh and later at King Saud University. The suggestions were made in both places in the form of a paper entitled “The Formation of the Saudi Judicial System and Its Effect on Women’s Legal Rights.”
Commenting on the recent changes in the judicial system which the government announced last week, he said the changes were both necessary and significant. New courts specializing in labor, commercial, domestic and criminal cases will be set up. The aim is to get cases through the courts as quickly and fairly as possible.
Dr. Al-Jaber noted that the new courts would surely speed up the legal process and would also give defendants the right to legal representation. He spoke in favor of compulsory training courses for judges which would increase their knowledge.
Despite the changes, Dr. Al-Jaber thinks the Kingdom’s judicial system still needs improvement. He would like to see the employment of sociologists and psychologists to follow up on the cases of domestic violence and to ensure abusers undergo treatment.
He said the procedures for reporting domestic violence by women should be well-known and easy to carry out. “We need to establish women’s sections in the courts in all the Kingdom’s 13 districts,” he pointed out.
