Saudi Arabia: Rights Body to Have Women Board Members

RIYADH — The Human Rights Commission (HRC) is to appoint Saudi women as board members following a royal decree approving the move, according to the group’s President Turki Al-Sudairi.

Saudi women already work part-time at HRC’s headquarters in Riyadh as part of an initial step to fully introduce women into the body. Women also work full time at HRC offices in the Eastern Province and Jeddah.

Saudi Arabia’s governmental human rights watchdog announced that it was planning to launch a 24-hour hot line to receive complaints from both citizens and expatriate residents. The announcement was made during a press conference on Monday following the launch of the HRC’s website www.haq-ksa.gov.

Al-Sudairi said the purpose behind naming the website “haq,” which means “right” in Arabic, was to create awareness among the Saudi public about human rights. He added that the website would allow people from across the Kingdom to file complaints without having to visit an HRC center.

The HRC president said the body was currently in the final stages of publishing its first report on human rights in Saudi Arabia. Since its inception two years ago, the HRC has been able to resolve 1,500 cases of the total complaints it received. He added that the organization was unable to resolve all issues, as many of them did not have any legal basis. “Only 50 percent of the cases that we receive are based on legal grounds,” said Al-Sudairi.

The HRC president said that government agencies were responsive to questions that the body sends them. He, however, added that the cooperation was not 100 percent. “We hope that government bodies will be more responsive,” he said.

Commenting on Saudi nationals held captive in Iraq, Al-Sudairi said the rights body was coordinating with the Interior Ministry and the Foreign Ministry, as well as Iraqi human rights groups through non-official channels. “We still do not have direct contact with the Iraqi government,” he said.

Al-Sudairi ruled the possibility of the HRC tackling the issue of growing prices in the Kingdom. “The HRC would not indulge in a matter of which it has little knowledge,” he said, adding that the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Finance were the two bodies concerned with the matter.

According to local reports, inflation in Saudi Arabia has reached over 6 percent — a record high. The Kingdom’s grand mufti and the imams of the holy mosques in Makkah and Madinah have highlighted the issue. They urged merchants to fear God and put the national interest first when it came to fixing prices.

-- Raid Qusti, Arab News