Saudi Human Rights Commission details efforts to end violence against women

Head of Saudi Human Rights Commission Reaffirms The Kingdom’s Commitment to Ending All Forms of Violence Against Women

Women’s rights in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have seen an unprecedented transformation, due to the historical decisions made under the leadership of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, said Dr. Awwad Alawwad, President of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) in his opening speech at a symposium on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women organized by the Saudi Human Rights Commission.

His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense has accorded high priority to women’s rights, affirmed Dr. Alawwad.

Among 60 decisions made to improve the situation of human rights in the Kingdom, 22 were related to women. These included issuing laws such as the Protection from Abuse Law, and the Anti-Harassment Law, amending civil and labor laws, allowing women to drive, ensuring greater female participation in the workforce, especially in the legal sphere, dedicating a call center for domestic violence issues, establishing the Family Affairs Council, one of whose committees is devoted to women’s affairs, and setting up courts within the personal status courts for family cases, explained Dr. Alawwad.

Violence against women is one of the most persistent and widespread forms of human rights abuse in the world according to UN estimates, most of which is unreported. Dr. Alawwad added that this is due to reasons such as the absence of punishment and silence about violence.

With this in mind, Dr. Alawwad stressed the importance of working collectively towards taking serious steps to responsibly combat this phenomenon. Women are the fundamental basis of every successful society, because they instill in our future generations the values necessary to build strong societies, said Dr. Alawwad.

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Ray Hanania is an award-winning columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

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