JEDDAH, 27 April 2007 — With the idea of setting up family courts in the Kingdom being studied, there is excitement in the legal community. “When family courts are established, that will be the best thing that could happen in the interest of women and children,” Nazieh A. Moussa, a lawyer at the Nazieh A. Moussa Law Firm, said yesterday.
“Family courts will be a boon. Women can look to them for protecting their rights, whether in matters of inheritance, divorce or exploitation, and children for protection against abuse. There is also the question of citizenship of children born to foreign women married to Saudis. Guardianship is another issue that such courts will deal with and is in the interest of both women and children,” he said.
Dr. Qaisar H. Metawea, Moussa’s associate in the same law firm, said the Kingdom has 1,000 lawyers and 100 law firms registered at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “The number of lawyers or law firms is far less than the need but in reality there is little community awareness of how to utilize lawyers’ help, whether in business or family matters. People turn to a lawyer only when they are involved in a court case. In the developed world, you cannot even establish or register a company without the help of a lawyer,” he added.
Another reason for the small number of lawyers is that the Kingdom has no full-fledged law colleges. “What we have is a department of law in most of our universities. King Abdul Aziz University has been trying to establish a college of law for the last five years but has not so far succeeded,” Moussa said.
“The absence of legal infrastructure is also proving to be an obstacle in attracting investment,” Moussa said, adding that much investment that is expected to return home from abroad is actually going to neighboring states.
“Likewise, our neighboring countries are benefiting more from overseas investments than we are. With the Kingdom’s ongoing plan to expand its non-oil sector and its goal to be one of the 10 most attractive investment destinations in the world by 2010, we need to attract both domestic and overseas investments,” he explained.
Moussa said that while Saudization had to go on in the interest of providing employment for Saudis, it should not come in the way of attracting overseas expertise. “We need the services of experts all the more now with five new economic cities being established,” he said.
“Bureaucracy and corruption have remained obstacles for investors, especially for overseas companies to establish their presence here or invest their capital. New investors have often faced problems. They are sent from office to office instead of having all their needs met in one place,” Moussa added.
“The Kingdom has vast investment potential that is not available in many countries worldwide and every effort should be made to create an investment-friendly atmosphere,” he said.
The lawyer hoped that the establishment of a special labor committee would look into the rights and grievances of overseas employees who number about 7 million.
Asked about the prospects of women being appointed judges, Moussa said: “It’s too early to hope for such developments. Right now, we don’t even have women lawyers.” Egypt, he pointed out, recently appointed 32 women judges.
