The “Gosoun Al-Rahma” (Branches of Mercy) campaign was officially launched on Tuesday at NSHR's Makkah province branch based in Jeddah.
The rights watchdog started planning for the campaign three years ago and formed a consultancy team to implement the strategies.
The campaign is seeking financial support from all sectors since child abuse is not only restricted to the Kingdom but the Arab world as well.
The society chose “Gosoun” as the name of the campaign in memory of nine-year-old Ghosoun, who died in 2006 after being tortured by her father and stepmother.
The Saudi couple was found guilty for murder and executed in Makkah in 2008. Ghosoun had been chained to a windowsill and at one point denied food and water for three consecutive days.
The idea for the campaign came in response to the daily reports of child abuse cases and fears of the issue aggravating.
Moreover, the NSHR is keen on delivering messages to society of the negative consequences of child abuse, whether it is of a physical, sexual or psychological nature.
The campaign’s aim is to prevent such incidents from happening in addition to increasing awareness of human rights and child abuse among all generations.
The National Family Safety Program cooperated with the King Faisal Specialist Hospital to establish a database to collect and register all reported child abuse cases so all concerned authorities would have a source of information to refer to. This can be found at www.nfspreg.org.sa.
This database, established six months ago, is the first complete source of information and statistics on child abuse.
Over the past six months, 188 cases of child abuse and neglect have been registered through child protection centers in the Kingdom.
According to statistics from the database, physical abuse cases amounted to 53.2 percent, neglect 41.5 percent, sexual abuse 17.5 percent and psychological abuse two percent.
Parents are usually the abusers, accounting for 72 percent of cases, followed by siblings at 10 percent. Strangers accounted for nine percent and domestic workers two percent.
The campaign will be delivered in three phases. The first phase will feature clips about the campaign, transmitted all over the Arab world though MBC television channels. The three clips were produced by advertising agency Full Stop.
Kaswara Al-Khatib, creative chairman of Full Stop, gave a brief presentation on the three clips, which started airing a couple of days ago.
The second phase will focus on awareness in the field. The third phase will focus on distributing leaflets to concerned sectors such as the police, education, health, social affairs and the media.
Jawhara Al-Angari, board member at NSHR and general supervisor for the campaign, along with Princess Adila bint Abdullah, vice chairperson of the National Family Security Program, urged the public to work hand in hand.
Al-Angari told the press conference they would reach every house in the Kingdom.
“We need everyone’s support. We have 20,957 elementary and secondary schools for boys and girls teaching 3,587,030 students, not to mention teachers and parents who we want to receive our leaflets,” she said.
The leaflets will have information and instructions on how to detect signs of possible violence, how to deal with the child and steps of communication and means of treatment.
“Here, I thank the Ministry of Education for approving the delivery of leaflets to all schools in cities and villages,” Al-Angari said.
“The child abuse issue is not a matter just for the NSHR but it’s a cause that concerns the whole of society,” she added.
(www.stopchildabuse.org.sa)
