“The NSHR noticed shortcomings in the services offered by some government departments such as prisons, social affairs department and even the courts,” said Muhammad Al-Sahli while giving a talk on human rights at a function at the Presidency of Girls Education Hall in Makkah recently.

Al-Sahli was of the view that all Saudi social practices were not based on Islamic principles. He added that while senior government officials cooperated with the NSHR in its attempts to address people’s issues, it was mostly junior officials that created difficulties for the society. He attributed this trend to a lack of awareness of human rights. He said 94 percent of the people in the Kingdom are ignorant of human rights, or even the existence of the NSHR.

He cited some instances of the general lack of awareness about human rights. For example, he said, some NSHR members recently noticed a deep pit in a Makkah neighborhood, but none of the locals contacted authorities to fill it.

People did not worry about the pit, which would gather water during the rainy season and pose a serious threat to the lives of children in the neighborhood.

He added that they did not care it would become a breeding center for mosquitoes that spread killer diseases.

Another instance, he said, was the NSHR’s discovery of an uncovered live cable close to a children’s playground. None of the residents in the area bothered to complain to the authorities about it, while officials from the electricity company were negligent in repairing it.

Even after the NSHR made a complaint, the electricity company took three days to repair the cable, he said.

He also accused prison authorities of not cooperating with the NSHR to educate inmates about their rights. The NSHR supplied booklets to jail authorities, but they were not distributed to prisoners, the society later learned.

Al-Sahli rejected a charge made by some people that the NSHR was promoting Western values and striving to enforce absolute equality of men and women and free sexual relations.

“The allegation is not correct. The NSHR never adopted any unacceptable values from the West. It has accepted only values that are in line with Islamic principles,” Al-Sahli said.