JEDDAH, 20 November 2006 — As part of international celebrations, the Saudi Pediatric Association marked the World Childhood Day yesterday and discussed issues relating to Saudi children. About 300 people attended a conference and series of seminars held at the Hilton Hotel that was organized by the association to mark the day. “We are proud of all the experts who are meeting here today to discuss all the issues that can serve our children as they are our future,” Dr. Abdurrahman Al-Suwailim, head of the Saudi Pediatric Association and a member of the Shoura Council, said in his speech.
“We hope that all the sectors will cooperate in order to conclude the meeting with beneficial recommendations that can be directed at officials to authorize and then apply them,” he added.
Al-Jawhara Al-Angari, deputy director of the Human Rights Organization in the Western Province, started with a presentation about children’s rights. “What have we given our children, how have we deprived them of their rights, how can we give them their rights back and how should we make life a more secure place for them,” she said, mentioning questions that she went on to discuss in her speech.
She added that children everywhere are living in difficult insecure conditions. A report published by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) this year said there were 30 million children at risk of death because of poverty, hunger and negligence. One of the most famous American programs stated that there are 37 million poor Americans and 42 percent of American women in charge of their families live below the poverty line, she said, adding, “That is happening in the US. You can imagine how worse the situation in the third world countries must be.”
Saudi Arabia is a signatory to the child rights agreement of 1995 that consists of 54 articles and states that the legal age of children is 18 years and below. In criminal cases, children are not allowed to be tortured, sentenced to life in jail or executed. Children’s interests must be given priority in all decisions made in any cases related to them in order to offer them the security and the care they need at young age.
The danger that children are exposed to in Saudi society was a subject discussed by Noura Al-Asheikh, head of the women’s department at the Ministry of Social Affairs. According to her, children are harmed mostly by their parents, maids, stepparents and relatives. She also cited cases of physical abuse that includes beating, burning and usage of chemicals.
One of the cases that she cited was the case of Khalid, a three-year-old child of a non-Saudi mother living in Taif, whose father beat him to death for wetting his bed. The father was sentenced to prison and was set free after a year and some months after the mother dropped the charges against her husband. Three years later the father beat his second son, Miteb, to death because he was also wetting his bed.
Enaam Raboei, director of both the Pediatric Department and the Child Safety Committee at the King Fahd Armed Forces Hospital in Jeddah, explained that child abuse includes physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and neglect. “Any attitude that is causing harm to the child or shows ignorance from the parents in treating their child may be referred to as child abuse,” she said.
Raboei mentioned a couple of studies including one carried out by the National Committee for Child Abuse covering thousands of children. The study showed 77 percent of abusers were fathers, 11 percent relatives and 75 percent close relatives or friends of the victim.
She also called on parents and teachers to keep a look out for children who are potentially being abused and cited an American study conducted in 1996, which showed that 49 percent of perverts had been abused themselves when young.
Al-Angari agreed and added that people who are limited in their understanding of religion are the ones who are generally known to abuse children. “It is not about how well you are educated though education is a demand; it is about how well the person knows religion. The majority of abusers unfortunately are from the educated class, people with Masters and PhDs,” she said, adding that it was a shame that there was an absence of a penal code to punish and deter offenders.
