The HRC has closely followed a case reported by Al-Watan newspaper on Oct. 6 about a 13–year-old girl who was married to a 50-year-old man.
At the beginning of this year, the commission formed a committee to study child marriages and requested official bodies to set a minimum age of marriage based on studies presented by the childhood committee at the Ministry of Health.
HRC President Bandar Al-Iban on Wednesday instructed the committee to review the case.
He called it a "clear violation of this child's rights and humanity at a time when she needs to enjoy the care of her family, her education and her normal life as a child".
According to Al-Watan’s report, the child was a student at a Qur'an school in Najran and was married off by her father to a retired man despite opposition from her grandfather and other members of the family.
The marriage contractor, Sheikh Saad Al-Yami, told the media that the girl had accepted the marriage, while the father claimed objections from other family members were simply due to an internal dispute.
The child's grandfather expressed his disgust over his son, saying that no one in his family is talking to him and they all feel sorry for the child, who he says was clearly brainwashed.
The issue of child marriages surfaced again when the Shoura Council requested its committee dealing with social affairs, family and youth to formulate a study and present it to the council for discussion. Human rights activists previously described this form of marriage as “inhuman,” calling upon officials to establish a minimum age for both boys and girls and punish those who violate it.
The HRC, meanwhile, stressed the importance of uniting society against child marriages, even individual cases, commending the role of the media in bringing into the public domain reports of any violation of children's rights.
