Shoura Council Chairman Abdullah Al-Asheikh chaired the session. “The house went through the entire draft law, which contains five chapters and 25 articles, and felt that it should be further studied by the council's social affairs committee to ensure better rights and privileges for children,” said Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz Al-Yahya, assistant secretary-general of the council.
“The proposal has been drafted according to Islamic law and offers maximum protection for children against abuse and negligence,” Yahya added, pointing out that the draft includes awareness programs for children to help them understand their rights.
Yahya explained that the clauses in the draft are based on Islamic principles, current Kingdom regulations and relevant international agreements signed by Saudi Arabia on children's rights.
The draft includes clauses to protect children from physical and mental abuse, parental negligence, sexual exploitation, child labor, child trafficking, and the sale of cigarettes and narcotics.
It also emphasized that all children should be looked after by their parents as well as people living around them.
Saudi Arabia ratified a convention on children’s rights in 1996, although with a reservation “with respect to all such articles that are in conflict with the provisions of Islamic law and considers it to be a valid source of domestic law.”
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child sets out the civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights of children.
The convention generally defines a child as anyone under the age of 18 unless this threshold is set as lower by a signatory.
