JEDDAH: Courts in Saudi Arabia received 103 lawsuits during the first nine months of this Hijri year against a number of government bodies.

The General Court in Riyadh received the highest number of cases with 19 percent of the total.

According to recent statistics, the number of cases recorded in Riyadh’s General Court against government bodies stood at 20, followed by the General Court in Makkah and Abha with eight cases each during the same period.

Four General and Criminal Courts recorded the highest number of cases compared with other type of courts.

The General Court in Khamis Mushayt received seven cases and each of Tabuk, Taif and Jazan courts received four cases each.

The cases filed against government bodies come at a time when a number of government and private bodies established redressal units to look into complaints of citizens and customers.

Mufleh Al-Qahtani of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) said the establishment of such units inside the government bodies, especially the divisions directly linked with providing services to citizens, will help in enhancing and protecting the human rights at large, and in spreading the culture of human rights in the same body in particular.

He said the move made by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice will contribute to boosting the competences and capabilities in the body so that any decision or measure taken will be discussed to see if it is compliant with the human rights’ standards.

“The establishment of human rights’ units inside the government bodies, especially those which directly deal with the public. The step is important to educate the employees inside the body on how to treat the public, and will limit the number of complaints received by NSHR concerning the attitudes and actions of some of the employees,” Al-Qahtani said, adding that his body seeks and urges all government bodies to establish such units, and to hold workshops and training courses for the employees to help them better understand human rights, which Shariah urged to maintain long time before any international pacts.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice started the implementation of the electronic linkage with eight government bodies, including the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Civil Service, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), Labor and the secretariats affiliated with the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Education, the Saudi Post and the Public Pension Agency (PPA).

The ministry said the electronic linkage comes within its objectives to facilitate the services offered for beneficiaries, adding that it is working currently on linking another 11 government bodies, including the Ministry of Health and and Saudi stock exchange (Tadawul) and other bodies.