JEDDAH, 31 August 2007 — Following negotiations between the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) in Jeddah and the Family Protection Committee at the Makkah region’s Social Affairs Department, six sisters, who had run away from their drug addict father in Riyadh, were given a women’s shelter in Jeddah on Wednesday night.

The girls had previously run away from their drug addict father and stayed at a shelter in Riyadh.

They then ran away from the shelter in Riyadh and arrived in Jeddah looking for help from their maternal uncle.

The father of the six sisters, the eldest of which is 28, pressured their uncle to send his daughters back to Riyadh. Fearing a return to Riyadh, the girls ran away from their uncle’s house and sought help from the NSHR. The society called the Social Affairs Department in the Makkah Region and reported that the girls allege they were sexually harassed.

“The girls now are considered to be runaways — such cases get transferred to the police and the general prosecution to check their claims. They then get transferred to shelter homes in their own region,” said Saeed Al-Ghamdi, general director of the Social Affairs Department in the Makkah Region.

“Until now we have no proof of abuse. We only have what the girls have said. We still have to check their father’s case,” he said.

Fatima Ghazi, director of Jeddah’s women shelter, the only one in Makkah Region, said that the girls are safe and well. She refused to provide more information citing reasons relating to confidentiality.

A team of psychologists, psychiatrists, general prosecutors, governorate representatives and police assess cases received by the Family Protection Committee at the Social Affairs Department.

There are currently 34 abused women at the women’s shelter in Jeddah. The shelter receives cases of abuse involving women and children of all ages.

Abuse includes physical, sexual and psychological abuse. The main perpetrators tend to be guardians. People admitted at the shelter, stay until they are able to live independently.

Many of the cases that the Family Protection Committee receives involve the children of illegal marriages between Saudis and foreigners.

Such children do not have legal papers and as a result do not have the rights enjoyed by citizens and residents.