Another year is almost over. The government’s Human Rights Commission (HRC) celebrated the end of 2008 and the anniversary of the 60th birthday of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by putting out a plan to promote the culture of human rights locally.

Jowhara Al-Angari, founding member of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), said that the organization’s aim in 2008 was to stabilize the principles of human rights by dealing with cases, creating awareness and relaying problems faced by members of the public to the authorities.

“Who would’ve thought that Saudi Arabia would release a report on human rights in the Kingdom? Women subjected to abuse or violence are now bolder. They now come out and talk about their problems, and seek protection and help,” said Al-Angari.

“Saudi Arabia attends many of the world’s conferences, a practice that is earning us respect and gradually changing the world’s perception of us,” she added.

In terms of action taken inside the Kingdom, the HRC said it had intervened in 1,013 cases between April and September 2008. About a fourth of these cases were resolved, while the rest have been either dismissed or are pending litigation, the HRC said. This number included 131 labor disputes and 199 prisoners’ rights complaints, as well as social complaints (including medical complaints) and financial cases.

Arab News has reported many cases relating to women’s rights, migrant workers’ abuse, domestic violence, child marriages and other human rights violations. The following are some significant events of 2008:

• Saudi activist blogger Fouad Al-Farhan was released from prison in April. He was detained for nearly five months without charge for comments he made on his website.

• Abdul Rahman Al-Lahem, the lawyer who represented the “Qatif Girl,” the 20-year-old woman who was kidnapped and raped by seven men last year, was given back his license in January. His license was confiscated on Nov. 14, 2007 prior to a hearing at Qatif General Court.

• The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice arrested Yara, a 40-year-old businesswoman, along with a Syrian colleague, for being together in a Starbucks café in February. Yara was forced to sign two confessions and was strip-searched at Riyadh’s Malaz Prison.

• Yakin Ertürk, the special rapporteur of the United Nations Human Rights Council on Violence Against Women, visited Saudi Arabia in February. She hailed progress on improving the status of women but urged more action to prevent gender-based violence.

• Human Rights Watch released the report “As If I Am Not Human” addressing the issue of abuse against Asian domestic workers in Saudi Arabia. The report said that many maids are forced to work for more than 18 hours a day, seven days a week. It added that salaries are often delayed, sometimes for as much as 10 years.

• In May, a High Court judge in Riyadh awarded SR2,500 in compensation to Nour Miyati, an Indonesian maid whose toes and fingers were amputated following alleged abuse by her sponsor and his wife. Reviewing a previous ruling, the judge also dropped charges against the wife of Miyati’s sponsor, who admitted abusing the maid.

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act toward one another in a spirit of brotherhood,” says Article 1 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.