The two-day event, which ended on Sunday, was headed by Dr. Hanan Sultan, Obstetrics and Gynecology consultant, and attracted more than 300 Saudi males and females in the UK. It also included six sessions discussing various medical, psychological, educational, legal and media point of views on family abuse cases.
Awad Al-Zaidi, head of Ebdaat Altaleem company and director of its two schools in Al-Riyadh and Al-Taif, spoke on behalf of the education sector when he said how, “Unfortunately our curriculum lacks stories about the skills of communication in the family. We need to implement that and teach our children how to be more confident.
“It is not always about beating those who beat you as the old Arabic proverb says; we need to be more understanding and look at the bigger picture to help these children be their best, before it is too late.”
Supportive organizations such as schools can therefore play a valuable role in preventing abuse. Another example is the Saudi Arabian Embassy in the UK, which was represented by Maha Al-Yousif, head of Saudi Citizens Affairs. She encouraged everyone to seek the help of the embassy and stated that their lines are open 24 hours a day. She also stressed the importance they placed on protecting the privacy of the caller.
“We should give our best because we are not here only as ambassadors of our tribes or cities but the whole country,” she said.
The law had its share of the event too, especially when one of the guests raised a question on an incident she came across when a father had abused his child in Saudi Arabia. The speaker said that if a child does not need to stay for more than 21 days at the hospital for recovery, then he or she is returned home to the abusive father. “Is that really fair, or a solution?” she asked.
Mohammed Shabaan, a lawyer at the Supreme Court in England and Wales; Nassir Al-Doussari, a law consultant and specialist in people with special needs; and Ahmed Al-Dibyan, general director at the Islamic Cultural Center in London, spoke about UK law on the subject. They described the absence of Islamic courts that deal with personal cases. They also outlined the role of the Islamic Cultural Center in London in helping Muslim couples and families overcome these difficulties.
Vas Gopinathan, detective chief inspector at the Metropolitan Police, who represented the Borough of Ealing, was among the speakers. He attended the event because, as he described it, he wanted the word to spread from 10 people to a thousand. “If you do not want to go to the police and report it, don’t ignore it. Take some action or things will get worse. There are a lot of organizations that could help,” he said.
Even for those who do not feel comfortable reporting to English authorities, Mohammed Balela, director at Al-Aman Family Safety Project, said that his project — one among several — was established in London in 2000 to deal specifically with the concerns of Arabic families.
The day ended with the last session, which included the participation of the media via three members of the Saudi Journalists Club in the UK, namely the columnist and president of the club Prince Bader bin Saud bin Mohammad, Abdullah Al-Maghlouth, columnist in Al-Watan, and Nahid Bashatah, columnist and specialist in clinical psychology.
The team shared their views, beginning with the role of the media, whether the media should expose these cases and the full names of the people committing it or not, and moving on to the need for training and for journalists specialized in covering cases of family abuse, “Especially because only 2.5 percent of Saudi Arabian families are aware of the abuse cases in the country,” said Al-Maghlouth.
The lectures were held on Saturday and three workshops were held on the Sunday. Roqaya Fitaihi, social researcher, headed the first workshop, which was called ‘Positive strategies to raise your children.’ Consultant in Leadership and Organizational Development Ghada Angawi, gave the second workshop titled, ‘Dealing with negative emotions in the family.’ The third and final workshop was held by Bashatah, and was about ‘Positive communication in the family’.
