Saudi- 4 children's homes planned

(MENAFN- Arab News) Minister of Social Affairs Sulaiman bin Saad Al-Hamid has ordered the establishment of four protection centers for children and called for the implementation of the regulations of the Child Protection System which were approved by the government.

Spokesman for the ministry Khalid Al-Thubaiti said the ministry is preparing new regulations for the Child Protection System pointing out that the system will protect individuals under the age of 18.

'The Child Protection System has been designed to cope with abuse and neglect in all its forms and is based on Islamic law and international agreements with a special focus on the rights of the child. The new laws will guarantee child protection from a number of abuses including denial of family support failure to provide necessary vaccinations interrupting education harassment and verbal and physical abuse' he said adding that children under 15 will also be prohibited from driving or working.

Al-Thubaiti said the new system will ensure a good environment for children who are subjected to abuse or neglect through the provision of alternative care services by the Ministry of Social Affairs.

The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) has reported an increase in domestic violence cases in the last 10 years. According to the society's statistics 2004 registered only one percent of such cases with numbers climbing over the years to 13 percent in 2013.

In its recently published annual report NSHR states that violence against children has increased 25 percent in nine years with a higher number of females being abused than males. As an example this year's number of children registered at the society was 79 compared to 33 the previous year.

The total number of domestic abuse registered by the society last year was 112 with Jeddah taking on the dubious honor of being the city with the most cases 39 followed by Makkah with 26 cases and Madinah with 20 among other cities and regions in the country.

The Saudis had the biggest percentage of domestic abuse with 72 cases of violence followed by Yemeni nationals with five cases and Pakistani expats with four cases among other nationalities.

"With the continuous change of things around us and the 'fast life' we've entered in the wheel of urbanization which increases family violence" psychologist Rajab Bresili told Arab News. "Such a phenomenon has psychological social cultural economic and religious factors and the last is in my opinion the most important of these features because weak faith affects society as a whole" he said.