Saudi courts have received 84,000 child custody and dowry-related cases in total during the past seven months, according to data released by the Ministry of Justice recently.

Cases of child custody and dowry issues reached 43,000 and 41,000, respectively, with Riyadh registering the highest portion of dowry cases at 1,122, followed by Jeddah (768) and Makkah (394), Al-Watan daily reported.

Similarly, child custody cases were the highest in Riyadh at 1,046, followed by Jeddah (764) and Makkah (473), the Ministry report said.

Meanwhile, a judiciary source at the family affairs court in Jeddah said that the majority of cases filed in courts are related to child custody and dowry issues. He attributed this increase to the recently-issued decision which allows divorced women the right to have child custody, and to obtain documents for her children from government agencies.

Member of the Shoura Council Sheikh Azib bin Said Al-Masail said that litigation in matters related to family affairs (personal status) is guaranteed within the legal pleadings system. He affirmed that there are independent judges, known as “implementing judges", who are primarily entrusted to apply penalties on those who do not follow rulings ordered by the family affairs courts, such as child custody and child visitation rights for parents.

In this context, a member of Saudi National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), Dr. Suhaila Zeen al-Abdeen, has said that the Saudi judiciary made a good decision when it agreed to give divorcees the right to have custody of their children, or to arrange the required dowry.