Rights society dealt with over 8,000 cases in 2015

RIYADH — The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) dealt with 8,307 cases from both genders last year. Society's President Mufleh Al-Qahtani said reports of human rights violations were received against bureaucrats, administrators and members of the judiciary. “The highest number of civil status issues — 6,252 cases — were recorded in 2015. There were 476 administrative issues, 422 penal cases, 259 cases of domestic violence, 214 cases of expatriate affairs, 154 cases of child abuse, 151 cases of personal status and 37 cases of judicial issues during the year,” said Al-Qahtani. He also said the rest of the 306 cases involved problems between individuals and companies, private sector service providers, legal compensation demands, medical errors compensation demands and environmental pollution issues. “The number of personal status cases has increased drastically during the year 2015 in comparison to previous years. The digitalization of all government services demands unified the government services and records. It demands from all users to have a civil record,” said Al-Qahtani. He added the number has increased drastically due to the number of people born in the Kingdom without any documentation or civil records. “Now all of the public services are connected. People without civil records are unable to have access to education, health care, marriage and divorce, work or opening a bank account. These cases are very urgent and must be dealt with according top priority. The more the issue is delayed, the more complicated it becomes,” said Al-Qahtani. He also said many of these cases include displaced families and tribes. “Most of the reports — 4,624 — were received in Riyadh. Of them, 96 were of domestic violence and 19 of child abuse. Jazan recorded 2,650 reports, 8 of which were for child abuse and 50 for domestic violence,” said Al-Qahtani. Dammam received 270 reports, four of which were for child abuse and 37 of them for domestic violence. Madinah received 257 reports, 34 of them for child abuse and 43 for domestic violence while 178 reports were received in Jeddah. Nine of the reports were for child abuse and 21 were for domestic violence. Asir had 153 reports, 6 for child abuse and 18 for domestic abuse, said Al-Qahtani. The society, he said, received calls from various nationalities including Saudis, Egyptians, Palestinians, Yemenis, Syrians, Moroccans, Bangladeshis, Jordanians, Pakistanis, Sudanese, Omanis, Turkish, Indians, Chadians and others.