Okaz/Saudi Gazette

RIYADH — The intervention of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) enabled a Saudi woman to see her 13-year-old daughter after her ex-husband prevented her from visiting the daughter, falsely claiming the child’s unwillingness to communicate with the mother.

Speaking to Okaz/Saudi Gazette, sources at the HRC said that the mother lodged a complaint with the commission saying that she was deprived of seeing her daughter who had been in her custody ever since her birth. The girl later moved to live with one of her paternal relatives after she reached the age of 13, the woman said in her complaint. Even though the woman won a court ruling, allowing her to see the child, she was surprised that her ex-husband refused to follow the ruling.

Subsequently, the competent teams at the HRC launched an investigation to verify the veracity of the complaint. It was found out in the investigation that the father had refused to implement a court ruling issued in favor of the mother after the man claimed that the child did not want to see her mother and that she had given this in writing.

It was revealed to the HRC that the mother approached a number of agencies to be able to see her daughter but all her efforts ended in failure due to the father’s intransigence not to allow his ex-wife to see her daughter. It was also found that the father failed to fulfill his undertakings in this regard. The commission took the initiative to hand over the girl to her mother, thus ending her ordeal. The HRC said it would also take legal measures against the father for his failure to implement the court’s ruling by depriving the girl of seeing her mother or communicating with her for a long time.

Bandar Al Hajri, the director-general of grievances at the HRC, told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that depriving children of seeing one of their parents or preventing them from communicating with them is one of the forms of harassment against children as that infringes upon their rights.

Al-Hajri stressed the importance of consistency of procedures for dealing with children’s issues in line with the provisions of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, in addition to the Child Protection Law and its executive regulations. He looked forward to continuing to promote children’s rights in the Kingdom as one of HRC’s most important areas of focus.