Saudi Arabia: Experts Call to Rein In Domestic Violence

Riyadh: Experts are warning against an alarming increase in attacks against women, children and the aged in the Saudi society.

Following a recently-concluded awareness campaign against domestic violence, they called for serious efforts to curb the menace. The warning came at a time when the Ministry of Social Affairs has issued a report outlining the unpleasant level of domestic violence against women and children in the Kingdom.

"Among the 508 cases of domestic violence received at the Riyadh-based Social Protection Committee last year, the victims in 452 cases were women. Regarding men, it is only 56," the report noted. Of the domestic violence involving women, 48 per cent of the victims were between the ages of 19 and 35. The percentage of minors and babies subjected to violence during the same period accounts for 17 per cent, while cases of the aged stood at 4 per cent. The report blamed parents and husbands as major culprits.

The issue prompted Saudi oil company Aramco to conduct an awareness campaign last weekend, featuring a wide variety of programmes and activities, including seminars, lectures, family orientation courses and the distribution of pamphlets.

Warnings

Several prominent academics, social scientists, psychiatrists and experts delivered lectures and presented working papers at sessions held at the main venue of the campaign, the Prince Sultan Centre for Sciences and Technology in Dammam.

Presenting a working paper on "The Psychological impact of domestic violence", Dr Ebrahim Al Mudaifer, head of the psychiatry department at King Abdul Aziz Medical City for National Guards in Riyadh, noted that many children, who have either been subjected to domestic violence or been brought up in such a family environment, show symptoms of psychiatric problems.

"This deals severe damage to their mental growth. Criminal tendencies in them are the highest," he warned.

By Mariam Al Hakeem, Correspondent for Gulf News