Supervisor of the Makkah branch of the society, Dr. Hussain Al-Sharif said the campaign was aimed at spreading culture of human rights for children through booklets, pamphlets and audio-visual material. He said the activity would be open from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. every day.
“The campaign is also aimed at projecting cooperation between the society and the other bodies concerned with children such as the Program of Family Safety,” he added. Talking to Arab News, informed sources of the society said Jeddah, with 36 percent of the cases of child abuse, tops all other cities and towns in the Kingdom followed by Jazan, which had 31 percent, and Riyadh with 18 percent.
They said the three cities together constituted about 85 percent of the entire cases of child abuse in the Kingdom.
The sources said the Ministry of Social Affairs was closely working with other departments concerned to put an end to the phenomenon through application of strict laws and spreading of awareness.
Social activist Muhammad Abdullah underlined the importance of enlightenment as a means to curb violence against children and said it was the only means to contain the growing trend.
He recalled that 71.1 percent of the people surveyed considered cauterization to treat children from some diseases as a clear-cut means of torture. “This is an indication of the success of the awareness campaigns,” he said.
Tahani Al-Majhad, of the Family Safety Program, said since the program was launched about 10 months ago, they received more than 400 telephone calls reporting cases of child abuse and asking for help. It said the program’s tool-free number of 116111 is open 24 hours a day to receive complaints and requests for help.
Meanwhile, NSHR Chairman Mufleh Al-Qahtani has said the organization is making efforts to introduce the subject of human rights in higher and general education syllabuses in Saudi Arabia.
“The organization has put a special emphasis on this issue, held seminars and carried out activities in this regard,” he said last week.
Al-Qahtani said a joint workshop between the organization and the Ministry of Education made specific recommendations on the issue that were currently being studied.
