JEDDAH, 13 June 2007 — With the growing number of child sexual abuse cases in the Kingdom, it is not enough for parents to guard their children and lock them at home for providing them with security. Rather, children need to learn how to protect themselves and understand what sexual harassment actually is.
The Kindergarten Unit at the Educational Supervising Center in the Al-Nahda District of Riyadh recently held a workshop for children to help them identify sexual abuse. Using a doll, an illustrator highlighted those parts of the anatomy that should not be touched by anyone.
Suhaila Hammad, a senior member of the National Society for Human Rights, said that young children need to be aware of such issues, since they can be subjected to abuse anytime by anyone.
“Some people think that talking about these issues would open children’s eyes on those taboo topics although our religion tells us about those issues in the Qur’an. For example Allah mentioned the story of the nation of Prophet Lut,” she said. “Teachers must use methods that reach out to children. If they are abused then they must try to resist and tell their parents about the incident even if the perpetrator is a family member,” she said.
She added that if child abuse is not stopped in the beginning, children could become abusers themselves when they grow older.
Saudi youths also argue that the education system in the Kingdom does not offer adequate information regarding such issues. Although the Islamic Culture 103 course at Saudi universities discusses marriage laws in Islam, it does not tackle the intimate side of marriage.
Consequently, young people look for information about the issue using “forbidden” ways such as the Internet, magazines and indecent movies that may provide them with wrong answers to queries that are not in line with Islamic laws.
“The whole matter of sex was kind of mysterious to me during school,” said Haya Salim, a university student at KAAU. “It was considered impolite to discuss this sensitive subject. Even biology lessons were not enough to satisfy my curiosity toward the matter. We barely knew about the reproductive system and how it works.”
