RIYADH, 19 July 2006 — According to officials at the National Guard Hospital, three children have so far died at the hospital’s emergency room as a result of child abuse suffered at home. One of the three children had multiple fractures after being abused by the family maid.
Dr. Maha Al-Muneef of the newly established National Family Safety Program (NFSP), said the National Guard Hospital received a disproportionate 12 cases in the past six months, in comparison to an average of 10 to 12 cases last year.
She said that the cases the NFSP had received so far were “serious”, and children that needed immediate medical attention had been admitted into hospital. “Some of the children needed admitting into the intensive care unit and others required surgery,” she said, adding that many of the children admitted since last year suffered from head injuries, multiple fractures, and bleeding in the abdomen area. “I know that there are cases out there that do not make it to the hospital,” said Dr. Maha.
The NFSP was established by a Royal Decree from Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah in November last year, and has been extending its efforts to prevent domestic violence in the Kingdom. The NFSP’s other mission is to create awareness about domestic violence in the Kingdom.
The program has been energetic since its establishment and has been operating under the umbrella of the National Guard Health Affairs in four main areas: Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Al-Hasa, and will soon start in Madinah.
Despite being limited in services, Dr. Maha says, “That does not mean that the NFSP awareness or prevention campaign will not reach other cities and villages in the Kingdom.”
However, people working in the program face many challenges, such as the lack of a hotline for emergency calls, the lack of shelters, and above all, the absence of a law dealing with domestic violence and detailing punishments offenders should be given.
The program, which receives both physical abuse cases and sexual abuse cases, consists of social workers, physicians, psychologists and security officials who work in cooperation with each other.
In most sexual abuse cases dealt by the NFSP, offenders tend to be family members. “Most of the time offenders are very well-known to the child: A relative, an uncle, an elder brother, etc.” As for physical abuse cases, 90 percent of them were related to the mother, father, stepmother or stepfather. “We are now seeing a small percentage of physical abuse cases concerning housemaids,” she added.
Dr. Maha said the NFSP was faced with the challenge of creating awareness among medical staff working in the Kingdom. “We do not have specialized people in clinics who do not know what is normal and what is not when a child is sexually molested,” she said. As a result, “the system abuses children more than what they have been abused with already.”
Dr. Maha said that attitudes toward child abuse are changing. “People are no longer considering the matter to be a private family matter that does not require intervention from the authorities. Unfortunately that was the thought in the past, not just by the father or mother, but also by the medical staff who used to believe such cases to be a private family matter,” she said.
Dr. Maha said NFSP officials were working alongside the Ministry of Social Affairs and the National Society for Human Rights.
