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Saudi Arabia - Second periodic reports of States parties due in 2003 [2005] UNCRCSPR 8; CRC/C/136/Add.1 (21 April 2005)
UNITED NATIONS
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CRC
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Convention on the Rights of the Child
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Distr. GENERAL
CRC/C/136/Add.1 21 April 2005
Original: ENGLISH
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CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES
UNDER ARTICLE 44 OF THE CONVENTION
Second periodic reports of States parties due in 2003
SAUDI ARABIA*
[Original:
Arabic]
[12 November 2004]
* For the initial report submitted by the Government of Saudi Arabia, see
CRC/C/61/Add.2, for its consideration by the Committee,
see document
CRC/C/SR.687-688 and CRC/C/15/Add.148.
GE.05-41428 (E) 260505
CONTENTS
Paragraphs Page
Introduction 1 - 13 5
I. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE KINGDOM
OF SAUDI ARABIA 14 -16 6
II. GENERAL MEASURES OF IMPLEMENTATION 17 - 32 7
A. Coordination 17 - 21 7
B. Measures taken to make the principles and provisions
of the
Convention widely known 22 - 24 10
C. Legislation 25 - 27 11
D. Preparation of the report 28 - 30 13
E. Budgetary allocations 31 - 32 13
III. GENERAL PRINCIPLES 33 - 87 15
A. Definition of the child 33 - 44 15
B. Non-discrimination (art. 2) 45 - 60 17
C. The best interests of the child (art. 3) 61 - 66 19
D. The right to life, survival and development (art. 6) 67 - 81 21
E. Respect for the views of the child (art. 12) 82 - 87 23
IV. CIVIL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS 88 - 122 24
A. Name and nationality (art. 7) 88 - 89 24
B. Registration of births (art. 7) 90 - 92 24
C. Preservation of identity (art. 8) 93 25
D. Freedom of expression (art. 13) 94 - 95 25
E. Freedom of thought, conscience and religion
(art. 14) 96 -
99 26
F. Freedom of association and freedom of peaceful
assembly (art. 15)
100 - 103 26
G. Protection of privacy (art. 16) 104 - 107 27
H. Access to appropriate information (art. 17) 108 - 110 28
I. The right not to be subjected to torture or other
cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
(art. 37 (a))
111 - 122 28
CONTENTS (continued)
Paragraphs Page
V. FAMILY ENVIRONMENT AND ALTERNATIVE CARE 123 - 165 30
A. Parental guidance (art. 5) 125 - 127 30
B. Parental responsibilities (art. 18) 128 - 134 30
C. Separation from parents (art. 9) 135 - 140 31
D. Family reunification (art. 10) 141 - 142 32
E. Illicit transfer and non-return of children
abroad (art. 11)
143 33
F. Recovery of maintenance for the child
(art. 27, para. 4) 144 -
145 33
G. Children deprived of a family environment (art. 20) 146 - 148 33
H. Adoption (art. 21) 149 - 150 34
I. Periodic review of placement of children in
institutions (art. 25) 151 - 153 34
J. Abuse and neglect (art. 19) and physical and
psychological recovery and social reintegration
of the child (art.
39) 154 - 165 35
VI. BASIC PUBLIC HEALTH AND SOCIAL WELFARE 166 - 205 37
A. Public health and health services (art. 24) 166 - 183 37
B. General health-care indicators 184 - 187 41
C. Disabled children (art. 23) 188 - 205 43
VII. EDUCATION, TRAINING, LEISURE AND CULTURAL
ACTIVITIES 206 -
271 50
A. Education 206 - 213 50
B. The Kingdom’s education system 214 - 225 53
C. Parallel education 226 - 232 55
D. Welfare of gifted children 233 - 235 56
E. National programme 236 - 243 57
F. Online education 244 - 245 60
G. International cooperation on education 246 60
H. Technical education and vocational training 247 - 252 61
I. Leisure, recreation and cultural activities (art. 31) 253
- 271 63
CONTENTS (continued)
Paragraphs Page
VIII. SPECIAL PROTECTION MEASURES 272 - 287 66
A. Children in situations of emergency 272 - 274 66
B. Children in armed conflict (art. 38) 275 66
C. Children in conflict with the law 276 67
D. The administration of juvenile justice (art. 40) 277 - 278 67
E. Physical and psychological recovery and social
reintegration
(art. 39) 279 - 280 67
F. Economic exploitation, including child
labour (art. 32)
281 68
G. Illicit use of narcotic drugs (art. 33) 282 - 283 68
H. Children and sexual exploitation and sexual
abuse (art. 34)
284 68
I. Sale, trafficking, abduction and other forms of
exploitation (arts. 34 to 36) 285 - 286 69
J. Children belonging to a minority or an indigenous
group 287 69
Annex. List of references 70
Introduction
- Islam
advocates concern for the welfare of the family as the basic unit of society and
pledges to provide it with all appropriate
means to enable it to lead a decent
life and to fully play its role in nurturing children and preparing them for
life. Islam emphasizes
the need to safeguard and protect children and their
right to life, preserving an environment conducive to their sound development,
protecting them from infectious diseases, and establishing comprehensive systems
of education based on freedom and independence.
Parents have a duty to provide
for their children’s welfare and education and to instil in them a love of
a decent life.
Islam shows particular concern for children’s personal
hygiene and environment and the development of children’s minds
and
bodies.
- Islam
also shows concern for the rights of children with special needs, including
orphans, disabled children, children of unknown
parentage and juvenile
delinquents. It prohibits the torture and ill-treatment of children.
- Children
are valued and appreciated in Islam. Almighty God said: “Nay! I swear
by this city. You are a dweller in this city.
And the begetter and whom he
begot”. He made them human: “O Zacchary! We bring thee tidings of
a son whose name shall
be John. We have given the same name to none before
him”, a pleasure to behold: “O Lord! Make our wives and children
the apple of our eye”, and an adornment to the world: “Wealth and
children are an adornment to the life of the world”.
- It
clearly follows that Islamic law guarantees human rights in general and the
rights of the child in particular, especially the child’s
right to care
and to the consideration of his or her best interests.
- As
confirmation of its faith in human dignity and its support for the human rights
recognized in Islam, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
has ratified the Declaration of
Human Rights in Islam (the Cairo Declaration), which was adopted by the
Organization of the Islamic
Conference on 5 August 1990 (13/4 A.H. 1411).
- In
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, children are the focus and the main beneficiaries
of the development process. The State provides
a full range of services
(educational, health, social etc.) to guarantee every child the opportunity
to exercise his or her fundamental
rights and to receive a proper upbringing
within the family and society.
- In
the Kingdom, governmental and private institutions play a major role in various
fields of child welfare, offering educational,
health, social and leisure
services, developing children’s aptitudes and skills and fulfilling their
other needs.
- The
National Commission for Child Welfare was established to liaise between the
competent government institutions and private organizations
which work for
children and to promote projects and programmes which cater for children and
guarantee their rights.
- In
that connection, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia acceded to the Convention
on the Rights of the Child pursuant to Royal Decree No.
M/7 of 16/4
A.H. 1416 (11 September 1995). The instrument of the Kingdom’s
accession to the Convention was deposited with
the Secretary-General of the
United Nations on 6/9 A.H. 1416 (26 January 1996) and the Convention
entered into force on 7/10 A.H.
1416 (25 February 1996).
- In
accordance with article 44, paragraph 1, of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child, concerning the reports to be submitted by
States parties on the measures
adopted to give effect to the provisions of the Convention, within two years of
the entry into force
of the Convention and thereafter every five years, the
Cabinet decided, on 28/3 A.H. 1417 (12 August 1996), to entrust the National
Commission for Child Welfare with the preparation, in conjunction with
government bodies and private organizations involved in various
children’s
issues, of the Kingdom’s report on the measures adopted and the mechanisms
established to give effect to the
rights established in the Convention and on
the progress made in the enjoyment of those rights.
- The
Kingdom’s initial report was submitted to the Committee on the Rights of
the Child and discussed at a session held at the
Committee’s headquarters
in Geneva on 24/1 A.H. 1421 (28 April 2000) in the presence of a Saudi
delegation comprising representatives
of different child-welfare
organizations.
- In
accordance with article 44 of the Convention, the Saudi National Commission for
Child Welfare and a number of governmental and
private organizations jointly
drafted the Kingdom’s second periodic report on the implementation of the
Convention, incorporating
into it replies and clarifications responding to the
questions and recommendations which the Committee on the Rights of the Child
had
produced following its consideration of the Kingdom’s initial report.
- In
acceding to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and diligently preparing
its reports thereon, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
is driven by its commitment to
international cooperation and its desire to draw the maximum benefit
domestically from international
conventions concerned with a variety of subject
areas. This point is illustrated by the Kingdom’s financial contribution
(US$
50,000) to the Plan of Action to strengthen the implementation of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child and its hosting of a
training course to be
held as part of the activities of the Plan. The Kingdom also contributed a
further US$ 50,000 to the fund
established under the initiative of the
Secretary-General of the United Nations to review the implementation of the
goals of the
World Summit for Children.
I. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI
ARABIA
Location
- The
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia lies at the south-western end of the continent of Asia.
It is bordered to the west by the Red Sea, to
the east by the Arabian Gulf, the
United Arab Emirates and Qatar, to the north by Kuwait, Iraq and Jordan, and to
the south by Yemen
and the Sultanate of Oman.
Surface area
- The
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia occupies four fifths of the Arabian Peninsula and has a
surface area of more than 2,250,000 km2 (868,730 square
miles).
Population
- In
2000, the population of Saudi Arabia was of 20,846,884; this figure can be
broken down as follows:
- – The
number of Saudi citizens was 15,588,805, accounting for 74.8 per cent of the
Kingdom’s total population;
- – The
number of Saudi males was 7,800,051, accounting for 50.04 per cent of the total
Saudi population;
- – The
number of Saudi females was 7,788,754, accounting for 49.96 per cent of the
total Saudi population.
II. GENERAL MEASURES OF IMPLEMENTATION
A. Coordination
- The
Saudi National Commission for Child Welfare coordinates the work of governmental
and private organizations involved in children’s
issues as part of the
follow up on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Coordination is effected through
a number of mechanisms, including:
1. The Supreme Council for Childhood
- The
Council is chaired by the Minister of Education and its members represent the
governmental and private organizations which work
on child-welfare issues. The
Council undertakes to:
- – Formulate
national child-welfare strategy with a view to helping the competent authorities
in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
to deliver the types of welfare services which
children need;
- – Coordinate
the efforts of governmental and private organizations involved in the field of
child welfare in order to ensure
complementarity, avoid duplication and
recommend the action that each organization can take in its respective field of
competence;
- – Propose
and recommend child-welfare programmes and projects for implementation by the
governmental bodies and private institutes
and associations
concerned;
- – Encourage
research and study centres at universities and elsewhere to contribute to areas
of relevance to child welfare;
- – Monitor
activities of international and regional child-welfare organizations which might
be of interest to the Kingdom.
2. The Planning and Follow-Up Committee
- The
Committee is chaired by the Deputy Minister of Education for Cultural Affairs
and its members represent all the institutions in
the Kingdom that are involved
in children’s issues (the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Education,
the Ministry of Culture
and Information, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of
Labour and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and
the
General Presidency of Youth Welfare), together with a number of private
institutions and associations. Its tasks are:
- – To
study the minutes of the Supreme Council’s meetings and follow up on the
implementation of the Council’s recommendations;
- – To draw
up proposals for new programmes and projects and submit them to the Supreme
Council;
- – To
review any matters referred to it by the Supreme Council and conduct studies and
research on relevant topics.
3. The secretariat of the Saudi National Commission for
Children
- The
secretariat has its offices in the Cultural Affairs Department of the Ministry
of Education and employs a number of specialists
in children’s affairs, as
well as administrative staff who handle administrative matters. Its tasks are
to:
- – Liaise
between the government bodies and domestic organizations and institutions
involved in child welfare in the Kingdom;
- – Prepare
meetings of the Supreme Council and the Planning and Follow-Up Committee;
- – Supply
information and data on child welfare, which it shares with all relevant
organizations;
- – Draft
periodic reports on the Commission’s activities and the implementation of
the recommendations and decisions of
the Supreme Council and the Planning and
Follow-Up Committee;
- – Monitor
activities of regional and international child-welfare institutions which might
be of interest to the Kingdom;
- – Arrange
meetings with persons involved in children’s rights, including university
professors, directors of government
departments, and private associations;
- – Organize
children’s meetings and seminars which are attended by senior officials
and encourage children to express their
views and state their needs as they see
them.
- The
Saudi National Commission for Child Welfare designs and oversees projects aimed
at the more effective implementation of the Convention,
including:
- – A
regional workshop on the quality of education, which was held in conjunction
with the United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF) Bureau in the Arab
Gulf States, from 1 to 5 Dhi al-Qa`dah A.H. 1423 (4-8 January 2003). Attended
by experts from Toronto
University and Saudi Arabia, as well as Saudi officials
and representatives of the Arab Gulf States, the workshop also considered
general comment No. 1 (2001) of the Committee on the Rights of the Child
concerning the aims of education;
- – A
national awareness campaign on the importance and particular characteristics of
childhood, as well as the rights which children
must be guaranteed;
- – An
analytical study of the state of child welfare in the Kingdom today, jointly
conducted with UNICEF and designed to determine
how far children are receiving
the care which they need and to devise plans and programmes to improve existing
services and remedy
any shortcomings;
- – An
informational seminar entitled “Early childhood: characteristics and
needs”, which was held in order to:
- – Disseminate
information about the special characteristics of childhood;
- – Define
the needs associated with this stage of development;
- – Raise
awareness among social groups and institutions about the importance of early
childhood;
- – Disseminate
information about the rights of the child in Islam;
- – Disseminate
information about the Convention on the Rights of the Child;
- – Highlight
the importance of the family’s role in raising children;
- – Disseminate
information about the contributions of government and private institutions to
areas relating to early childhood;
- – Draw on
the experiences of other countries in catering for the welfare of young
children;
- – Establish
a national child data centre in collaboration with UNICEF;
- – Participation
in a number of international and regional conferences on children, including the
Conference on Children and
the City held in Jordan from 5 to 7 Shawwal A.H.
1423 (911 September 2002). Sponsored by the Arab Institute for Urban
Development,
the World Bank and the Amman Treasury, the conference threw light
on the problems confronting children and young persons in Arab
cities and
discussed immediate steps for addressing those problems through the formulation
of national and regional strategies for
planning Arab cities in a way that takes
account of children’s needs.
B. Measures taken to make the principles and provisions
of
the Convention widely known
- There
is considerable national interest in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
A number of steps and measures have been taken
to make its principles and
provisions widely known in accordance with article 42 of the Convention. The
most important of these
measures are as follows:
- – The
Kingdom’s accession to the Convention on the Rights of the Child was
announced in all the media;
- – The
text of the Convention was circulated among all government bodies and private
organizations concerned with children in
order to boost their child-welfare
programmes, monitor indicators on their achievements, and restructure programmes
to take account
of the Convention, thus making it easier to evaluate their
success in achieving targets in the educational, cultural, health, social
and
security domains. Each organization has distributed the text of the Convention
among all the persons and organizations with
which it has links. The text of
the Convention was distributed to the relevant departments of the Ministry
of the Interior pursuant
to circular No. 35/90407, issued by His Royal Highness
the Minister for Internal Affairs on 27/11 A.H. 1416 (15 April 1996);
- – Children’s
events are held throughout the Kingdom and consist of students’ sports,
cultural and theatrical activities
and scouting activities in schools. These
events are used to disseminate knowledge about the Convention;
- – A
number of literary and cultural clubs have been set up to discuss, promote
awareness of, and encourage children to write
about, the Convention with a view
to creating a cultural climate which encourages all social groups to cooperate
on the implementation
of the Convention;
- – A
television programme in the form of a debate between guest experts and
specialists in children’s affairs has been
created to encourage discussion
of the Convention;
- – Local
newspapers have special children’s pages which deal with children’s
rights and accept contributions from
children, mothers, intellectuals and
child-welfare professionals.
- The
Saudi National Commission for Child Welfare, which is part of the Ministry of
Education, is responsible for following up on the
implementation of, and raising
awareness about, the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Commission has
designed programmes
and activities to help make the Convention widely known, in
particular:
- – It has
organized a variety of cultural events, such as the Children’s Cultural
Fair, which was launched in A.H. 1421
(2000) and repeated in A.H. 1423 (2002).
This event was used to disseminate knowledge of the Convention. Information and
leaflets
were handed out to visitors at the Fair and the programme was designed
to give children complete freedom to choose the activities
that they wanted to
do;
- – The
text of the Convention on the Rights of the Child has been reproduced on large
posters which have been distributed to
all schools in the Kingdom, as well as to
primary health-care centres and all child welfare organizations;
- – Seminars
on the topics covered by the Convention on the Rights of the Child have been run
for groups which work with children.
A number of working papers and studies
have been produced on children’s issues, including the subject of child
abuse. A seminar
on child abuse was held at the Armed Forces Hospital in Riyadh
on 14/7 A.H. 1422 (1 October 2001); a seminar on the diagnosis and
management of child abuse in the Kingdom was held at the King Faisal Hospital
for Specialized Medicine and the Riyadh Research Centre
from 22 to 23/11
A.H. 1422 (56 February 2002); and a scientific seminar entitled
“Child abuse and how to prevent it”
was held during the month of
Rabi` I A.H. 1424 (May-June 2003), in order to develop a mechanism for the
eradication of this phenomenon.
The session was attended by a number of Saudi
experts from governmental and private organizations (educational, medical,
psychological
and social), together with representatives from the UNICEF Bureau
in Riyadh and the Arab Gulf Programme for United Nations Development
Organizations.
- A
programme has been set up to raise awareness of the adverse effects of child
abuse and is now being introduced in governmental and
private further education
colleges with a view to including all academic stages.
C. Legislation
- All
regulations and legislation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are based on the
teachings of Islam, the religion on which the State
was founded and which it
professes. Since Islamic teachings show great concern for the welfare,
education and protection of children
from harm, the Kingdom has enacted laws,
including specific laws on children and general laws which pay special attention
to all
issues affecting children, which are consistent with the Convention on
the Rights of the Child. This is also true of the recent
administrative, legal
and procedural regulations and orders as follows:
- – Royal
Decree No. 12 of 16/4 A.H. 1418 (19 August 1997), concerning the Kingdom’s
accession to the International Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination;
- – Royal
Decree No. 21 of 20/5 A.H. 1421 (20 August 2000), approving the Code of Shariah
Procedures;
- – Royal
Decree No. 25 of 28/5 of A.H. 1421 (28 August 2000), concerning the
Kingdom’s accession to the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women;
- – The
statutes of the Bar Association, approved by Cabinet Decision No. 199
of 14/7 A.H. 1422 (27 January 2001);
- – The
Code of Criminal Procedures promulgated in Royal Decree No. 39
of 28/7 A.H. 1422 (14 October 2001);
- – Deputy
Prime Ministerial Order No. 964 of 1/11 A.H. 1422 (14 January 2002), approving
the safety regulations for the organization
of camel and horse races;
- – Royal
Decree No. 5 of 4/1 A.H. 1423 (18 March 2002), concerning the health regulations
applicable to all Saudis wishing to
marry;
- – Royal
Order No. A/2 of 10/1 A.H. 1423 (24 March 2002), providing for the incorporation
of the General Presidency for the Education
of Girls into the Ministry of
Education;
- – Royal
Approval No. 7/B/5388 of 3/3 A.H. 1423 (15 May 2002), making the kindergarten
stage (including its physical infrastructure)
an autonomous and independent
stage of education;
- – Royal
Decree No. 11 of 23/3 A.H. 1423 (4 June 2002), concerning the Health Act and its
implementing regulation;
- – Royal
Order No. A/66 of 27/4 A.H. 1423 (7 July 2002), concerning the appointment of
His Royal Highness Prince Abdullah Bin
Abdul Aziz, Crown Prince,
Deputy Prime Minister and Commander of the National Guard, as Chairman of
the Higher Council for Disabled
Affairs;
- – Royal
Order No. A/2 of 28/4 A.H. 1424 (29 April 2003), changing the name of the
Ministry of Education.
- The
laws on children cover all aspects of children’s welfare, including
health, education, the right to survival and family
welfare, and take account of
the best interests of the child in accordance with the Convention on the Rights
of the Child.
- Among
the projects which are a matter of priority for the Saudi National Commission
for Child Welfare is the preparation of a comprehensive
guide to all the
Kingdom’s statutes and legislation on children, which takes account of the
extent to which they comply with
the Convention on the Rights of the
Child.
D. Preparation of the report
- After
the Committee on the Rights of the Child had completed its consideration of the
Kingdom’s initial report, the Saudi National
Commission for Child Welfare
circulated the Committee’s recommendations and observations among all the
organizations and individuals
involved in children’s welfare and asked
each of them to take steps to implement the pertinent recommendations and
observations
contained in the report of the Committee on the Rights of the Child
and to inform the Commission secretariat about the actions they
had taken
towards that end.
- The
secretariat of the Saudi National Commission for Child Welfare began preparing
the second periodic report of the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia on the steps taken to
implement the Convention, as follows:
- – It
circulated a decision of the Supreme Council of the Commission providing for the
establishment of a drafting committee
consisting of governmental and private
organizations involved in children’s rights;
- – The
drafting committee held consultations with the directors of the relevant
organizations and distributed the observations
and recommendations which the
Committee on the Rights of the Child had made on the Kingdom’s initial
report in order to verify
what steps had been taken in response thereto;
- – The
drafting committee asked organizations involved in any area of children’s
affairs to prepare a report on any new
laws, measures or projects of relevance
to them and to update the statistical and other information which they had
contributed to
the Kingdom’s initial report;
- – A
number of associations and civil society organizations took part in the numerous
meetings and consultations that were held
on the preparation of the
report.
- The
present report responds to some of the questions which the Committee on the
Rights of the Child has raised and outlines the actions
that have been taken in
response to the Committee’s recommendations regarding the initial
report.
E. Budgetary allocations (art. 4)
- Children’s
programmes and projects are accorded special attention. The State’s
general budget earmarks funds for their
implementation as part of the
general allocations for child-welfare organizations. Details of the allocations
for children are indicated
below.
- The
total allocations for children disbursed by State sectors over the past five
years amount to 5,782,454,000 Saudi riyals (SRIs).
This figure can be broken
down as follows:
Annual budget for family and children’s radio
programmes
Riyadh and Jeddah
|
1 407 120 SRIs
|
Family programmes
|
1 150 000 SRIs
|
Total
|
2 557 120 SRIs
|
Annual budget for family and children’s television
programmes
Family and children’s programmes
|
1 200 000 SRIs
|
One million and two hundred thousand riyals
|
Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs
|
7 519 031 000 SRIs
|
Description
|
Amount (SRIs)
|
Gardens and leisure parks
|
2 253 824 000
|
Social services (medical, disabled persons)
|
1 356 961 000
|
Educational and medical services, the Royal Commission for
Jubail and Yanbu
|
1 228 000 000
|
Educational expenditure for the Saudi Academy and other schools
abroad; other educational expenditure by government agencies
|
943 669 000
|
Total
|
5 782 454 000
|
Statistical indicators
Evolution of State budgetary
allocations for social services
(A.H. 1412/13-1421/22 (1991-2002))
|
Millions of SRIs
|
Increase 1405/06=100
|
1412/14
|
49814.4
|
101.8
|
1413/14
|
53887.8
|
110.1
|
1414/15
|
47925.0
|
97.9
|
1415/16
|
44330.7
|
90.6
|
1416/17
|
44979.3
|
91.9
|
1417/18
|
63918
|
130.6
|
1418/19
|
70861.1
|
144.8
|
1419/20
|
65986.0
|
134.8
|
1420/21
|
73707.6
|
180.6
|
1421/22
|
80455.2
|
164.4
|
State budgetary allocations for the Ministry of Health and Red
Crescent Society
(A.H. 1411/12-1420/21 (1991-2002))
|
Thousands of SRIs
|
Change 1405/06=100
|
1411/12
|
9 901 100
|
110.5
|
1412/13
|
9 052 032
|
101.1
|
1413/14
|
10 109 612
|
101.1
|
1414/15
|
8 267 946
|
92.3
|
1415/16
|
7 503 020
|
83.3
|
1416/17
|
10 950 419
|
122.3
|
1417/18
|
10 950 419
|
122.3
|
1418/19
|
12 435 62
|
138.9
|
1419/20
|
11 545 076
|
128.9
|
1420/21
|
13 288 600
|
148.4
|
1422/23
|
13 857 430
|
|
Evolution of State budgetary allocations for education
(A.H.
1412/13-1421/22 (1991-2002))
|
Millions of SRIs
|
Change 1405/06=100
|
1412/13
|
29594.0
|
128.5
|
1413/14
|
30342.4
|
131.7
|
1414/15
|
27822.4
|
120.8
|
1415/16
|
25623.9
|
111.3
|
1416/17
|
27536.2
|
119.6
|
1417/18
|
40067.9
|
174
|
1418/19
|
43867.2
|
190.5
|
1419/20
|
41274.8
|
179.2
|
1420/21
|
47601.9
|
206.7
|
1421/22
|
51170.8
|
222.2
|
1422/23
|
45.785.960
|
|
III. GENERAL PRINCIPLES
A. Definition of the child
- The
Convention on the Rights of the Child defines the child as every human being
below the age of 18 unless under the law applicable
to the child, majority is
attained earlier.
- This
is consistent with the laws and regulations in force in the Kingdom, where a
juvenile is defined under the Detention Regulation
and the Juvenile Homes’
Regulation of A.H. 1395 (1975) as every human being below the age of 18.
The age of legal capacity
and legal responsibility is raised to 20 when it comes
to the application, subject to particular conditions, of disciplinary measures
against drug users.
- The
laws and regulations applicable to children below the age of 18 are explained
hereunder:
- – From
birth until the age of 7 children have no responsibilities or obligations of any
kind. At this stage, the parents or
legal guardians have the primary
responsibility for educating and guiding their children, instilling in them a
sense of right and
wrong and inculcating fundamental principles that will
prepare them for the next stage of life;
- – From
the ages of 7 to 10 the child is regarded as being capable of discretion and
begins to learn how to perform religious
observances and to deal with others.
The child also acquires certain obligations and responsibilities but does not
incur corresponding
penalties;
- – From
the ages of 10 to 15 children bear some responsibility for their actions. The
legal guardian must provide guidance and
administer discipline without harming
the child and the child is made to answer, in a special place, in the presence
of his or her
legal guardian, and in accordance with an appropriate procedure,
for any offences or wrongdoing of which he or she is guilty. The
legal guardian
must make amends for any wrongdoing by the child and must undertake to watch
over the child. Any penalties imposed
on the child take the form of guidance, a
reprimand or placement in a supervised residential institution. Discipline must
be administered
in such a way as to correct the child’s behaviour without
harming him or her in any way;
- – From
the ages of 15 to 18 children are regarded as having entered the phase of
independence and reason. They must answer
for any crimes or wrongdoing which
they commit, in an appropriate place and in a manner that protects their
physical and emotional
integrity, takes due account of their best interests, and
represents an extension of their educational care. In order to protect
children
and others, any punishment that proves necessary will take the form of
disciplinary measures, education and guidance. If
need be, the child may be
placed, for an appropriate period of time, in a supervised residential
institution which will serve as
an alternative environment and help to improve
and reform the child’s behaviour.
- The
regulations in force in the Kingdom stipulate that minors may not be detained in
a public prison, but must be placed in supervised
residential institutions.
- With
regard to social status, the law does not define a specific minimum age for
marriage; the Islamic Shariah regulates discrepancies
relating to capacity for
marriage and promotes marriage in a manner that ensures the happiness of both
spouses and averts the countless
social dangers inherent in the deferment of
marriage. This flexibility of the Islamic Shariah helps to satisfy the
disparate needs
of men and women and serves the interests of both parties.
- With
regard to the minimum age for admission to employment, article 163 of the
Labour Code promulgated in Royal Decree No. M/21 of
6/9 A.H. 1389
(15 November 1969) prohibits the employment of children below the age
of 13, while article 160 prohibits their employment
in hazardous or
harmful work, occupations involving power-driven machinery, mining, quarrying
and the like.
- The
Kingdom’s Labour Code is consistent with International Labour Organization
(ILO) Convention No. 138 concerning the minimum
age for admission to
employment.
- In
A.H. 1398 (1978), the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ratified ILO Convention
No. 29 of 1930 concerning forced labour, and ILO Convention
No. 105 of 1957 concerning the abolition of forced labour. The
provisions of both conventions have force of law in the Kingdom.
The Labour
Code devotes an entire chapter (chapter 10) to the prohibition of the
employment of children and women in work that is
likely to be hazardous or
harmful to their health.
- Article 161
of the Labour Code prohibits the employment of children in night work, while
article 162 limits their working hours to
six hours per day.
Children are not permitted to do overtime work (art. 152).
Article 147 of the Code stipulates that, during working
hours, children
must be given breaks of not less than half an hour for rest, prayer and meals.
Children may not work for more than
five hours consecutively (art. 148).
The Kingdom has acceded to ILO Convention No. 182 concerning the worst
forms of child labour.
- A
child over the age of 15 is entitled to plead before a court, to seek medical or
legal advice, and to be issued with an identity
card, in accordance with the
Civil Status Act.
- The
religious establishment and the State prohibit the consumption of alcohol by any
person, regardless of that person’s gender
or age. As for the minimum age
for sexual consent, the Kingdom’s laws are derived from the Islamic
religion, which forbids
sexual relations outside of marriage.
- With
regard to compulsory education, the eighth strategic basis of the seventh
development plan (A.H. 1420-1425 (2000-2005)) stipulates
that primary
education is compulsory for both boys and girls.
B. Non-discrimination (art. 2)
- Article 2
of the Convention on the Rights of the Child provides that: “States
Parties shall respect and ensure the rights set
forth in the present Convention
to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any
kind” and that “States
Parties shall take all appropriate measures
to ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or
punishment
on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions or beliefs
of the child’s parents, legal guardians or family members.”
- In
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia full equality is guaranteed to all and everyone
is protected by laws which ensure that they receive
equal treatment in
accordance with two important Islamic principles, namely:
- – Justice,
equality and non-discrimination on any grounds; for, as Almighty God has
said: “God commands justice, the
doing of good ...”;
- – The
applicability of Islamic law to everyone: equal rights are guaranteed to all
without regard to race, sex or other considerations.
The law applies to
everyone without distinction and all the Kingdom’s judicial, social and
cultural systems are founded on
this principle.
- The
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz,
explained these principles during his presentation of the Basic Law
of the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He said: “There is no difference between
the ruler and the ruled. Everyone is equal before
God’s law and everyone
has an equal love for the nation and concern for its safety, unity, prestige and
advancement. The ruler
has rights and obligations and the relationship between
the ruler and the ruled is governed first and last by God’s
law.”
- The
articles of the Basic Law clarify those principles in detail. Article 8
states that: “The system of Government in the
Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia is based on justice, shura (consultation) and equality
in accordance with Islamic law.” Article 47 recognizes that:
“Citizens and foreign residents
in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have
an equal right to seek judicial remedies.”
- The
penal, judicial and administrative laws, including those dealing with children,
confirm this state of affairs in everyday practice.
Minors who commit an
offence are dealt with in a manner that takes account of their age and social
circumstances at the time of
the commission of the offence, and there is no
discrimination between juvenile offenders. Children are disciplined in
accordance
with the laws in force, due regard being had for their age and
situation, the place in which the offence was committed, and the extent
of the
damage done, but without regard to their nationality or origin. This is
consistent with article 2 of the Convention.
- The
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia acceded to the International Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination pursuant
to Royal
Decree M/12 of 16/4 A.H. 1418 (19 August 1997). The
text of the Convention was circulated among the relevant government
departments
in circular No. 233/8 issued by the Office of the Prime Minister
on 20/4 A.H. 1418 (23 August 1997) and was publicized
by the
Ministry of the Interior in circular No. 35/1308/2 dated 30/5
A.H. 1418 (30 September 1997).
- The
Kingdom acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women pursuant to Royal Decree M/25
of 28/5
A.H. 1421 (28 August 2000).
- In
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, children of all nationalities are treated on the
same footing as Saudi children as regards access
to educational, health and
leisure services and freedom of movement. They have their own schools, which
make no distinction between
foreign and Saudi children.
Children born out of wedlock
- Social
welfare institutions provide suitable care for children of unknown parentage and
children deprived of proper care in the family
or community. This care is
provided without any discrimination on any grounds.
Disabled children
- The
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia pays considerable attention to this category of
children. The fact that His Royal Highness Crown Prince
Abdullah Abd al-Aziz
was appointed Chairman of the Higher Council for Disabled Affairs, pursuant to
Royal Order No. A/66 of 27/4
A.H. 1423 (7 July 2002), is evidence
of the extreme importance attached to this group’s welfare.
- Paragraph 3
of the eighth strategic basis of the sixth development plan calls for greater
efforts to be devoted to persons with disabilities
and for the introduction of
national programmes to ensure their rehabilitation and welfare and facilitate
their access to employment.
- The
State does not allow any form of discrimination against children with
disabilities, nor is there any pattern or tradition of discrimination
against
them in society. Programmes have been designed to integrate children with
disabilities into the education system and various
fields of
employment.
Girls
- All
children in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, both boys and girls alike, have
equal rights and duties and equal access to all the forms
of educational,
health, social and family welfare that are provided by the State.
- The
Kingdom acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women pursuant to Royal Decree M/25
of 28/5
A.H. 1421 (28 August 2000) and the General Presidency for the
Education of Girls was incorporated into the Ministry of Education
pursuant
to Royal Decree No. A/2 of 10/1 A.H. 1423
(24 March 2002).
- Saudi
society professes Islam, which advocates justice and equality and therefore
rejects all forms of discrimination on the basis
of sex. Girls enjoy all the
rights guaranteed to them by the Islamic Shariah and receive exactly the same
treatment as boys in respect
of education and employment. Everyone has equal
rights and duties, unless otherwise dictated by the nature of a particular
academic
discipline or as regards maternity leave and leave for the purpose of
raising children.
- There
are no minorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and there is no
discrimination between Saudi citizens. Foreign residents in
the Kingdom enjoy
the same welfare and protection as Saudi citizens; their children have the same
rights as Saudi children and are
entitled to equal treatment before the
law.
C. The best interests of the child (art. 3)
- The
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia shows the utmost concern for the best interests of
the child. The child’s best interests are the
primary consideration when
it comes to the selection of a marriage partner. Parents must respect the
child’s rights with regard
to breastfeeding, custody, guardianship and
maintenance, and all Saudis proposing to marry must comply with the health
regulations
laid down in Royal Decree No. 5 of 4/1 A.H. 1423
(18 March 2002), which are designed to eradicate hereditary diseases and
protect
children from disabilities.
- The
Basic Law guarantees the welfare and protection of the family and the rising
generation, underscoring the vital need for family
cohesion and the protection
of family members. The Basic Law demonstrates particular concern for the best
interests of the child
by
- defining
the minimum age for admission to employment, prohibiting the employment of
children at an early age, in heavy or hazardous
work or occupations, or at
night, stipulating maximum working hours, and requiring employers to provide an
appropriate working environment
with every facility for relaxation, rest and
peace and quiet.
- The
juvenile laws in force in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia take account of the
best interests of the child. They consider the child’s
age and social
situation, protect children from exploitation and danger, define the age (from
7 to 18) at which children are liable
for their actions and provide
for the establishment of juvenile courts presided over by special judges to hear
cases, administer
justice and fully safeguard children’s rights in
accordance with the Juvenile Justice Act of A.H. 1395 (1975). The Act
provides
that judicial proceedings against children must be conducted in an
atmosphere that takes account of the child’s feelings and
is far removed
from the atmosphere prevailing in adult courts. Children’s trials must be
concluded expeditiously after their
social situation has been thoroughly
investigated and all other possible reform measures have been exhausted. Such
proceedings must
be held in camera and may not be made public. The Act
promulgated in A.H. 1389 (1969) encourages the juvenile courts to settle
cases
without placing children in supervised facilities and to limit penalties
to admonishment, guidance, counselling or a reprimand, coupled
with delivery
into the custody of the child’s guardian for ongoing supervision and
correction.
- The
Act stipulates that no previous convictions may be entered in the child’s
record, regardless of the number of repeated offences,
and that placement in an
institution shall be used only as a last resort and for the shortest possible
period of time. When such
placement is ordered, the child must be allowed to
freely pursue his or her studies in a comfortable atmosphere which offers all
kinds of entertainment such as television, radio, a library, newspapers and
magazines. The child must be allowed to receive visits,
to practise sports, to
take part in cultural excursions and competitions, to practise hobbies and to
voluntarily learn crafts of
his or her own choosing. Several schemes and
activities have been designed to teach young people to rely on themselves, to
make
their own decisions without any external interference and to make the best
use of their free time. All their nutritional, protection,
health and safety
needs are catered for and these schemes are supervised by senior social workers
who visit the children from time
to time and listen to their views and
suggestions.
- The
law prohibits the use of coercion or intimidation during the examination of
children or the hearing of their statements. Account
is taken of
children’s feelings and investigators must wear civilian clothing and must
not handcuff children. Children must
be transported in civilian vehicles and
must be treated in the most humane manner. Special judges are appointed to hear
children’s
cases, the purpose of which is to reform and reintegrate
children into family life in full dignity.
- The
law offers scope for the reduction of penalties, empowering judges often to
reduce the period of time which children spend in
supervised institutions, if
they memorize the Holy Koran or improve their behaviour. Children are also
allowed to sit examinations
while in detention. If more than half the sentence
has been served, the remainder may be commuted and the child may benefit from
the Royal Amnesty which is proclaimed every year before the Id alFitr
holiday, allowing him or her to celebrate the holiday with
his or her
family.
D. The right to life, survival and development (art.
6)
- The
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia guarantees the right to life, survival and
development of all children in the country without any discrimination
among
them. It prohibits the killing of human beings in general and of children, in
particular. As God says: “Kill not your
children on a plea of want. We
provide sustenance for you and for them” and “Take not life, which
God hath made sacred,
except by way of justice and law.”
- The
Islamic Shariah applicable in the Kingdom never imposes capital punishment on
persons who have not attained their majority, regardless
of whether the offence
they committed was a qisas offence [for which the penalty is
retaliation], a hadd offence [for which the prescribed penalty is
mandatory] or a ta`zir offence [for which the penalty is left to the
judge’s discretion]. Subject to the relevant conditions, children in
detention
are allowed to pay three-day visits to their families and to take part
in celebrations such as relatives’ weddings or sad occasions
such as
funerals, in order to preserve their ties with their family.
- The
Kingdom protects the right of all children to life, survival and development by
providing a full range of security, nutritional
and health services. It is
striving to ensure that solidarity and love in all families and communities form
the core of such protection.
It advocates wise and understanding treatment
between individuals, rejects enmity and hatred, and strives to achieve justice
and
equality without discriminating between males and females or Saudi citizens
and foreign residents. The State looks after children
requiring alternative
care through the General Department for the Welfare of Orphans, which caters for
children of unknown parentage,
children born out of wedlock, of whom there are
very few, and children deprived of the care of one or both parents or relatives
owing
to death, divorce, the ill-health of the mother or any other
circumstance.
- Conditions
have been established to regulate the fostering of such children so as to ensure
their full protection and welfare. After
an appropriate name has been chosen
for them, children of unknown parentage are entrusted to the care of a foster
family, consisting
of a husband and wife or a healthy woman, who must be free of
disease and socially, physically and psychologically fit and willing
to look
after the child.
- Regulations
have been established to ensure that children deprived of a family environment
are cared for either in welfare institutions
or alternative families. From
birth until the age of six these children receive social, educational,
psychological and health care
in welfare homes. They are then transferred to
social education homes and model education institutions. A special system known
as the kafalah of Islamic law (guardianship) has been established to
provide children with alternative family care. This system guarantees the
children being cared for all the rights and duties of any other citizen.
- The
State provides financial aid and establishes educational programmes overseen by
social workers in order to supervise, monitor
and advise all institutions and
families entrusted with the guardianship of orphans and children in a similar
situation. It also
earmarks an annual budget to subsidize these
programmes.
- The
State provides fully for the welfare of minors in a manner consistent with their
health and social status and regardless of their
sex, colour, religion or ethnic
origin. The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs oversees a number of
residential institutions
throughout the country which provide children with
social, health, educational, psychological and vocational services. These
institutions
offer children an alternative family environment, board and lodging
and every comfort, including a monthly allowance and opportunities
to pursue a
hobby and learn useful crafts that will allow them to become productive members
of society.
- Other
important programmes include social education centres for boys and girls;
vocational, social and health rehabilitation services
for children with
disabilities; programmes of care for children with palsy; and the day care and
welfare programmes for normal and
disabled children which are run by charities
and social services’ centres, of which the Kingdom has 246. Child welfare
services
are delivered through kindergarten programmes, day-care centres and
children’s clubs which cater for normal children and through
centres for
disabled boys and girls, residential welfare centres, orphan guardianship
schemes and assistance programmes for the families
of children with disabilities
and abnormalities.
- The
Ministry of Justice works through its representatives in the juvenile courts and
liaises with trained social workers to guarantee
children the full enjoyment of
their rights in a manner consistent with their best interests. The Board of
Investigation and Public
Prosecution studies and investigates children’s
circumstances and makes sure that due account is taken of human rights during
criminal proceedings. The State budget earmarks funds to support the
implementation of these programmes.
- The
Saudi media pay the family the attention it deserves in its capacity as the
basic building block of society, the first school
in which children receive
knowledge and instruction and the environment in which children’s
personalities are shaped and their
behaviour is regulated. The family is
consistently provided with everything it needs to carry out its tasks and ensure
its cohesion.
- A
large share of the audio-visual and print media’s attention goes to
children: special departments have been set up and staffed
with women
professionals to produce useful and informative television and radio programmes
tailored to the needs of children and
families and educational material is
designed for the audio-visual and print media in accordance with the Convention
on the Rights
of the Child and the Kingdom’s own media policy.
- The
laws and regulations prohibit violence against children. A number of seminars
and workshops have been held on the subject of
child abuse in order to raise
public awareness of this problem. In addition, a national committee, consisting
of child-welfare organizations,
is being established to formulate a
comprehensive national strategy for the suppression of all forms of violence.
Every year, the
Ministry of Health takes part in the celebrations to mark World
Mental Health Day, endeavouring to raise public awareness about mental
health
issues as they relate to children of all ages and adolescents, women and older
persons. The theme for the 2002 World Mental
Health Day was the impact of
psychological trauma and violence on children and adolescents. The Ministry of
Health, in conjunction
with the other organizations involved in this area,
distributed leaflets and publications, held workshops and organized a number
of
educational talks for communities all over the Kingdom.
- Children
have property rights if a relative from whom they are entitled to inherit dies
before they are born. The law guarantees
live-born children the right to
inherit from the time of birth.
1. Promotion of breastfeeding
- Almighty
God says: “Mothers shall suckle their children for two full years.”
The healthy-child programmes run by the
Ministry of Health use follow-up and
public awareness activities to promote breastfeeding. More than 95 per cent of
mothers in most
parts of the country breastfeed their children during the first
four months of life.
2. The Prohibition of Abortion Act
- Article
24 of the Code of Medical and Dental Practice promulgated in Royal Decree
No. M/3 of 21/2 A.H. 1409 (2 October 1988) stipulates
that a pregnant woman
cannot have an abortion unless it is necessary to save her life. Any physician
who breaches this provision
is liable to punishment in accordance with article
29 of the same Code.
E. Respect for the views of the child (art. 12)
- The
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia respects the views of children on all matters relating
to their lives and gives them due weight in accordance
with the child’s
age and maturity. Since children have the right to be heard in judicial
proceedings, juvenile courts have
been established and are required to hold
trial proceedings in camera, creating an appropriate environment in which
children can
talk without fear or anxiety. Trials, which must be held in the
presence of a social worker, are conducted in supervised welfare
homes and
everything is done to help the child not to feel anxious, afraid or insecure.
The law allows the child to have his or
her own defence lawyer.
- The
law allows children to express themselves through the print and audio-visual
media and television programmes without offending
the dignity of others or
public morals (article 39 of the Basic Law).
- Children
are also entitled to participate in scientific discussions on matters affecting
their lives. A variety of cultural, theatrical,
poetry, public-speaking and
story-telling events are organized to allow children the freedom to express
their views in schools, colleges,
sports, cultural and literary clubs,
associations and the print and audio-visual media operating in schools and
elsewhere.
- Account
is taken of children’s views on their basic and other day-to-day needs.
Children freely participate in cultural clubs
and sporting activities and in the
identification of competitions and areas of participation suited to children of
different ages.
The newspapers have special sections to which children can make
contributions which freely express their views. Numerous magazines
accept
articles from children which demonstrate their talents and discuss their needs.
Children take part in a variety of television
and radio programmes which speak
to children and those responsible for their care in a language that children can
understand. Children
also take part in cultural life by joining
children’s associations, science clubs and youth and students’
clubs.
- Children
are asked for their views when research is carried out on children’s
issues, including about the care that they receive,
any shortcomings which they
have identified, and suggestions for improvements. Children have the freedom to
choose whether or not
to remain with an alternative family and children in
social institutions are involved in designing appropriate institutional-care
programmes based on their own assessments.
- Cultural
clubs offer children a forum in which to discuss their problems and find comfort
and relief. The Ministry of Education involves
children in the evaluation of
school curricula and school activities’ programmes so as to tailor them to
children’s expectations
without detracting from the programmes’
basic aims.
IV. CIVIL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
A. Name and nationality (art. 7)
- Article
7 of the Saudi Nationality Act adopted pursuant to Cabinet Resolution No. 4
of 25/1 A.H. 1374 (23 September 1954) stipulates
that: “A Saudi
national is a person born in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or abroad to a Saudi
father or a Saudi mother and
a stateless father or a father of unknown
nationality or a person of unknown parentage born in the Kingdom. A foundling
is deemed
to have been born in the Kingdom unless there is evidence to the
contrary.”
- Article
67 of the Civil Status Act No. M/7 of 21/4 A.H. 1407 (21 December
1986) provides that every Saudi citizen who has reached
the age of 15 must apply
to a civil status office for an identity card.
B. Registration of births (art. 7)
- Article
32 of the Civil Status Code provides that all births which take place in the
Kingdom and all Saudi births abroad must be reported
within the prescribed time
limits.
- Ministerial
Ordinance No. 386 of 1/9 A.H. 1408 (17 April 1988) lays down the conditions for
the selection, and the number of names
to be given to a child. Article 6 of
the Ordinance stipulates that the name, comprising a minimum of four and a
maximum of six elements
with the words “son of” between
the first name and the name of the child’s father and between the
father’s
and the grandfather’s name etc., must be recorded in the
Civil Register. Article 11 of the Ordinance prohibits the registration
of names
which are contrary to Islamic law, inconsistent with human dignity or not
recommended. The State requires civil records
to be treated as
confidential.
- The
Saudi Nationality Act considers a child of unknown parentage to be a Saudi
national by virtue of being born in Saudi territory.
Such children are entitled
to the same rights and privileges as Saudi citizens. They are registered at
birth or, in the case of
foundlings, on discovery. A birth certificate is
issued and each child is given a four-part name. The date of birth and name of
the mother, if known, or a pseudonym, are entered in the birth certificate.
When the child reaches the age of 15, he or she will
be issued with a Saudi
registration card, a
- birth
certificate, a passport and an identity card. In order to preserve the dignity
and rights of the child and the foster family,
the child must not be named after
the foster family. Anyone who attempts to deprive a child of his or her
identity or who abandons
a child for no good reason is liable to the penalties
prescribed by law (article 7 of the Nationality Act, as amended by
Royal Decree
No. 20 of 12/11 A.H. 1379).
C. Preservation of identity (art. 8)
- The
laws in force in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia respect the child’s right to
preserve his or her identity, including his or
her nationality, name and family
ties. The State protects human rights in accordance with the Shariah and
article 26 of the Basic
Law. Article 13 of the Saudi Nationality Act No. 4 of
25/1 A.H. 1374 (22 September 1954) stipulates that no Saudi citizen may be
stripped of his or her nationality unless for compelling reasons and in
accordance with a royal decree. The Basic Law insists on
the importance of the
family, the welfare of its members, the strengthening of family bonds and
respect for the values which form
the pillars of Saudi society
(arts. 9-13).
D. Freedom of expression (art. 13)
- The
State shows great concern for children’s upbringing and education and for
their acquisition of appropriate skills to ensure
their effective participation
in the integrated development of Saudi society. Children are trained from the
first day of school
to exercise their right to freely express their views and to
engage in dialogue as an important basic educational tool for developing
their
capacities in accordance with modern educational and pedagogical principles.
Expression is a core subject which is taught
at all schools during the first few
years of education to help children learn how to express themselves freely.
- Education
officials hold meetings and discussions with children in all stages of education
and listen to and discuss their freely-expressed
views and opinions about school
curricula and teaching methods. Cultural, social, sporting, artistic and
scouting activities are
also used to help students to develop their
participatory and decision-making capacities and to give them opportunities for
relaxation.
Children are involved in the planning of daily school programmes
and performance evaluation methods. Children and young persons
are given
numerous opportunities to express their views on social, cultural and scientific
development. They are encouraged to repudiate
discord and violence and to
embrace harmony, cohesion and mutual respect in accordance with the provisions
of the Islamic Shariah
and articles 9 to 13 of the Basic Law. Schools and
colleges, sporting, cultural and professional clubs, private cooperatives,
playgrounds,
parks, summer and vocational centres, etc. are used to develop
children’s skills, including their ability to express themselves
freely.
Children are consulted and help make decisions about children’s programmes
so as to satisfy their needs and realize
their aspirations. Article 39 of the
Basic Law defines the parameters for their participation in the
media.
E. Freedom of thought, conscience and religion (art.
14)
- Article
1 of the Basic Law stipulates that: “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is
a fully sovereign Arab Islamic State. Its religion
is Islam. Its Constitution
is the Holy Koran and the Sunnah of the Prophet (the Prophet’s sayings)
and its language is Arabic.” Children normally
follow the religion of
their parents, who have the primary responsibility for safeguarding the welfare
and development of children,
in view of their physical and mental
immaturity.
- According
to article 7 (b) of the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam:
“Parents or legal guardians have the right to
choose the type of education
they desire for their children, provided that they take into consideration their
children’s bests
interests and future in accordance with ethical values
and the precepts of the Islamic Shariah.”
- Although
all Saudi citizens are Muslims, the State nevertheless respects the right of
nonMuslim residents to their religious beliefs.
- In
the intellectual sphere, the State promotes science, the arts and culture and
encourages scientific research and contributions
to Arab, Islamic and human
civilization.
F. Freedom of association and freedom of peaceful assembly
(art. 15)
- The
State encourages the establishment of charitable associations in accordance with
the Charitable Associations and Institutions
Act No. 107 of 25/6 A.H.
1410 (22 January 1990). It has enacted laws to regulate their objects and
statutes so as to guarantee the
realization of their aims and the
furtherance of the public interest. Indeed, the State subsidizes these
associations and institutions
in accordance with Cabinet Resolution No. 610 of
12/5 A.H. 1395 (25 May 1975), providing them with monetary, technical, material
and emergency assistance for the implementation of their programmes.
- These
associations, which are non-profit making bodies, are devoted to the furtherance
of sociocultural interests and the realization
of humanitarian goals.
Membership in these associations is voluntary. There are also a number of
children’s associations which
involve children in the organization of
meetings, work planning and the election of members and chairpersons.
- The
child welfare activities of these associations can be divided into two
categories: one for children with disabilities and one
for children without.
Some associations run kindergarten programmes, day-care centres and
children’s clubs for normal children.
Others cater for children with
disabilities through services’ centres for disabled boys and girls,
welfare homes, orphanages,
and programmes of assistance for the families of
disabled children.
- These
associations have a number of youth programmes and help to develop young
persons’ skills by setting up social development
and services’
centres and organizing vocational training courses in areas such as language
learning, sewing, computing, typing,
etc. Men and women from all sections of
urban and rural society participate in these associations.
G. Protection of privacy (art. 16)
- Article
40 of the Basic Law stipulates that: “Telegraphic, postal, telephone and
other means of communication are confidential.
They shall not be confiscated,
delayed, inspected or intercepted other than in the circumstances specified by
law.” Article
37 states that: “Homes are inviolable. They shall
not be entered without the permission of the owner and they shall not be
searched other than in the circumstances specified by law.”
- Other
laws guarantee individuals the right to privacy and personal liberty without any
interference, provided that the exercise of
this right does not harm others or
society, form the subject of a complaint, or lead to depravity.
- The
Safety of Camel-Racing Regulation No. C/966 of 1/11 A.H. 1422 (14/1 2002)
contains the following provisions:
(a) An apprentice jockey shall
be not less than 16 and not more than 23 years of age and shall be placed under
the supervision of
a senior trainer. Upon reaching the age of 24, he shall be
licensed as a professional jockey;
(b) He shall be medically fit to pursue this profession, as attested by the
results of a complete medical check-up to be carried
out at the beginning of
each racing season;
(c) Evidence that he has undergone an adequate period of training and knows
how to control the camel shall be provided in a certificate
that has been duly
signed by trainers licensed by the racing organization. The trainers shall bear
responsibility for the consequences
of the jockey’s failure or inability
to control his camel and for preventing him from causing any accidents to
others;
(d) The jockey shall sign a declaration, endorsed by the racing organization
and accompanied by an attestation from his father or
legal guardian, stating
that he is aware of the dangers of racing and exonerating any other part of
responsibility for the consequences
of his participation therein;
(e) A minimum weight (e.g. 52 kilos) such as applies in horse racing shall
be established for camel jockeys in order to prevent the
employment of minors as
jockeys;
(f) Jockeys shall wear protective clothing such as protective jackets and
headgear;
(g) The body supervising and organizing the races shall ensure that jockeys
comply with these and other conditions which form part
of the racing rules;
(h) Before issuing racing permits, the authorities and governorates which
directly oversee the safety of races shall conduct regular
checks to ensure
compliance with all aspects of these procedures.
- It
is not permissible to force children into criminal activity or delinquency. The
law punishes anyone who does so or who exploits,
incites or helps a child to
engage in crime or delinquency. The laws emphasize the importance of protecting
children’s dignity
and feelings and of safeguarding children against
exploitation. Parents have a duty to protect their children’s physical
and
emotional well-being. The laws on special care for children and
children’s social welfare homes are all based on the principles
of
protecting the child’s physical integrity, respecting his or her feelings,
and safeguarding his or her dignity as a person
entitled to protection,
affection, care and guidance without threat of torture or
exploitation.
H. Access to appropriate information (art. 17)
- Considerable
care is taken to provide children with access to appropriate sources of
information through the audio-visual and print
media. Libraries have been
installed in every school and turned into learning resource centres offering a
full range of information
tools, including books, computers and the Internet.
Departments specializing in the production of children’s and family radio
and television programmes have been set up and staffed with women professionals
in order to deliver informative programmes tailored
to the needs of children and
families. The material presented by the audio-visual and print media is
designed in accordance with
the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the
Kingdom’s media policy.
- Some
23 per cent of all television programmes and 19.6 per cent
of all radio programmes are geared towards young persons, children
and families
and provide them with information that is useful and entertaining.
- Domestic
newspapers and magazines give wide coverage to children’s and family
issues, satisfying children’s need for access
to appropriate information.
Some children and young persons contribute articles on cultural topics, while
others manage many pages
of these publications.
I. The right not to be subjected to torture or other cruel,
inhuman
or degrading treatment or punishment (art. 37 (a))
- Article 36
of the Basic Law stipulates: “The State shall ensure the security of all
citizens and foreign residents in its territory.
No citizen shall have his
freedom of action curtailed or shall be detained or imprisoned except as
provided by law.” The
Kingdom acceded to the Convention against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, pursuant to
Decree
M/11 of 4/4 A.H. 1418 (7 August 1997). The Convention was
circulated to the competent authorities in accordance with Order
No. 16/20294
of 16-17/5 A.H. 1422 (5 August 2001),
signed by His Royal Highness the Minister for Internal Affairs.
- Articles
2 and 13 of the Code of Criminal Procedure promulgated in Royal Decree
No. M/39 of 28 July A.H. 1422 (15 October 2001)
prohibit
torture or degrading treatment and stipulate that young men and women
must be examined and tried in accordance with the applicable
regulations and
ordinances.
- Article
5 of the Detention and Imprisonment Act No. M/21 of 12/6 A.H. 1398
(19 May 1978) stipulates that all prisons and places of
detention must
undergo judicial, administrative, health and social inspections in accordance
with the provisions of the implementing
regulation.
- In
order fully to guarantee humane treatment of convicted persons, article 13
of the Detention and Imprisonment Act provides that
a pregnant prisoner or
detainee must receive special care from the first signs of pregnancy until
40 days after delivery, in accordance
with the provisions of the relevant
implementing regulations. In order to protect the health of such prisoners and
detainees and
the children they are carrying, article 14 of the same Act
further stipulates that a pregnant prisoner or detainee must be transferred
to a
hospital when the time of delivery approaches and must stay there until the
physician allows her to be discharged.
- The
Act grants prisoners the freedom to perform religious observances and provides
that every prison and detention centre must have
its own psychologist and social
workers, in addition to educational, cultural and recreational facilities.
- Article
28 of the Act stipulates that no prisoner or detainee may be subjected to any
kind of assault and that any official who assaults
a prisoner or detainee
shall be liable to punishment.
- The
Kingdom operates on the principle that a person is presumed innocent until
proved guilty by a competent court in proceedings that
have afforded him the
right to a defence at all stages. If this applies to adults, then children in
the Kingdom obviously enjoy
even more humane and indulgent care and protection,
as confirmed in the Juvenile Justice Act, which provides for the appointment
of
juvenile judges. The full rights of children are guaranteed during all stages
of proceedings in accordance with the Act which
passed into law in
A.H. 1395 (1975) and juvenile trials must be held in special places
(supervised homes) in accordance with the
Act promulgated in A.H. 1389
(1969).
- The
law states that the social circumstances of juveniles must be examined before
reform measures are imposed on them, in complete
confidentiality, and that no
details or photographs of children’s trials may be published. The law
also provides that juveniles
must be placed in reformatories only after
solutions such as guidance, admonishment, reprimand or parental pledges have
failed.
Moreover, no previous convictions may be entered in a juvenile’s
record, regardless of the number of repeat offences. Consistent
efforts are
made to reduce custodial sentences to the minimum and juveniles are encouraged
to amend their behaviour and to do well
in their studies with a view to their
release if their behaviour improves. The law prohibits the use of coercion in
order to extract
a confession from a minor. Minors must be questioned without
pressure of any kind and in the presence of a social worker.
- Minors
must be transported in unmarked vehicles accompanied by a civilian escort. They
must not be handcuffed. Verdicts handed down
against them are subject to
judicial review and minors enjoy all their social rights, including the right to
receive visits from
relatives. Minors are provided with recreational, leisure
and educational services and vocational training in order to help them
to reform
and to develop their self-reliance.
- The
Islamic Shariah in force in the Kingdom never imposes capital punishment on
persons who have not attained their majority.
- The
law favours the release and pardon of juvenile delinquents, if they improve
their behaviour, on the occasion of Islamic feast
days, or if they memorize the
Holy Koran. A judge can order a young person’s release if he deems it
appropriate.
- The
Ministry of Education issues regular circulars prohibiting the beating or
ill-treatment of school children during all stages of
general education and
prescribing penalties designed to deter teachers from committing such
acts.
V. FAMILY ENVIRONMENT AND ALTERNATIVE CARE
- Article
9 of the Basic Law stipulates: “The family is the nucleus of Saudi
society and its members shall be brought up in the
Islamic faith, which teaches
loyalty and obedience to God, His Messenger, and legal guardians, respect for
the law, and love of,
and pride in, the homeland and its glorious
history.”
- Article
10 of the Basic Law stipulates: “The State shall strengthen family ties,
preserve Arab and Islamic values, care for
all family members and create
conditions conducive to the development of their potential and
capacities.”
A. Parental guidance (art. 5)
- The
law holds parents responsible for protecting the lives, welfare, and development
of their children and for providing them with
a sound upbringing and guidance
without overburdening them. Paragraph 5 of chapter 11 of the sixth
development plan, which outlines
the objectives of the social, political and
media services’ sector, stipulates that the sector must strive to:
“Strengthen
family ties, focusing in particular on caring for, educating
and raising children in accordance with sound principles.”
- Chapter 12
of the seventh development plan outlines the policies of the social, youth and
media services sectors as follows:
“To achieve further
development in the social welfare domain by building more social welfare homes,
centres and institutions,
encouraging systems of alternative and foster family
care for child orphans and children with special circumstances, and supporting
the programme of assistance for persons with disabilities and voluntary social
work.”
- Articles
9 to 13 of the Basic Law emphasize the importance of this care and of providing
parents with everything they need, including
jobs, free preventive and
therapeutic health services and free educational and recreational services, to
enable them to meet their
responsibilities for raising children.
B. Parental responsibilities (art. 18)
- According
to the laws of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, parents and guardians are
responsible for children and must not curtail their
rights, including their
right to maintenance, filiation, breastfeeding, parental care and education.
This is a duty of care entrusted
to parents, who will have to answer to God for
their actions. In the words of the Prophet (May blessings and peace be upon
him!):
“Each of you is a shepherd and is responsible for his flock. The
father is a shepherd of his household and is responsible
for his flock. The
woman is the shepherdess of her husband’s home and is responsible for her
flock, etc.”
- There
are two types of guardianship: guardianship of person and guardianship of
property. Guardianship of person is the more important
of the two, since young
children need someone to care for them and to provide them with sound guidance.
No legal guardian can deny
a ward this right. Indeed, guardians are held
responsible for the education and guidance of their wards and for dealing with
all
matters that affect them. They also face prosecution by the State if they
abuse correctional or disciplinary methods in such a way
as to endanger the
physical or mental health or survival of their wards. This type of guardianship
comes to an end when the child
reaches his or her majority.
- The
law requires parents or guardians to protect and endeavour to enhance the
property rights of children until they reach their majority.
God says:
“And come not nigh to the orphan’s property, except to improve it,
until he attain the age of full strength.”
- Articles
26 to 34 of the Basic Law define the rights and obligations of individuals and
the State with respect to the creation of
a social environment that allows the
family to play its role and meet its obligations for securing the happiness of
its children.
- The
law protects children from parental exploitation and from moral, physical or
spiritual neglect. The State endeavours to strengthen
family ties and the role
of the mother, creating numerous sociocultural and health programmes to help
mothers to discharge their
responsibilities in meeting their children’s
educational and practical needs. These endeavours extend to the creation of
opportunities
for cooperation between families, schools, cultural and sports
clubs, charitable associations, and social and health centres with
a view to
providing integrated care.
- The
mass media are endeavouring to educate parents about the vital role they play in
their children’s cultural, social, health
and educational development and
about their other duties.
- The
following development programmes have helped to make families and parents aware
of their children’s rights:
- − The
provision of free education at all stages, including university and vocational
education;
- − The
delivery of free health care for citizens and foreign residents through primary
health centres and government hospitals;
- − The
provision of housing for low-income families in need;
- − The
provision of different types of social services for poor families, persons with
disabilities, orphans, and children deprived
of family care, through government
and private social development and social services’ centres and welfare
homes (offering
educational, health and social care).
C. Separation from parents (art. 9)
- The
family is the natural environment for children from birth until they reach the
age of majority. However, in spite of the efforts
made to strengthen
family ties, the family may lose one its basic components, making it an
unfit environment for child-rearing.
In such cases, a child may have to be
separated from the family in his or her own best interests or guardianship may
be withdrawn
from the parents owing to illness, a protracted period of
imprisonment, the lack of fitness of a guardian or testamentary executor
to
raise children, or where there is evidence that the guardian is exploiting
the child. In these cases, the State assumes guardianship
of a child aged
between 7 and 18 in accordance with Decree No. 611 of 13/5 A.H. 1395
(24 May 1975) and places him or her in a government
or charitable
social welfare institution. As for children below the age of 7, State
welfare homes were established under the terms
of Decree No. 156
of 8/2 A.H. 1395 (20 February 1975) as an adjunct to the homes
run by charitable associations.
- The
law endeavours to keep children with their families, even when they break the
law, provided that the offence is not sufficiently
grave to warrant placement in
a reformatory and separation from the family in the child’s best
interests, or the child’s
behaviour has proved impervious to reform
through simple disciplinary measures such as guidance, a reprimand, delivery
into the custody
of the family in exchange for a pledge of reform and guidance
or placement in a public sanatorium in the event of illness.
- Children
are sometimes placed in the custody of the guardian. If the guardian is unable
to reform the child owing to illness or incapacity,
the child may be entrusted
to a relative or any other trustworthy person of good repute who is willing and
able to raise and educate
the child.
- The
Shariah also allows for the withdrawal of guardianship from one or both parents
or the legal guardian, if the person concerned
has been convicted of rape or
indecent assault, has been sentenced to a long term of imprisonment, has
ill-treated the child or has
endangered his or her health, safety or moral
integrity. In such cases, a judge may assign guardianship to a relative who
meets
the prescribed criteria or may place the child in a social welfare
institution until a relative or similar person is found to care
for him or her
or the child reaches the age of 20.
- The
social welfare homes’ regulation provides for the care of children below
the age of 7 who need to be separated from their
families in the child’s
best interests. The regulations governing social welfare homes and prisons
allow a child to stay with
his or her mother if this is in his or her best
interests. A child in custody is allowed to receive family visits lasting for
an
appropriate length of time and is provided with every facility for his or her
reform, rehabilitation, education, safety and return
to normal life. Such
children enjoy all the rights granted to their peers and previous convictions
are not entered in their record,
no matter how many times they have
offended.
- The
managers of reformatories and welfare homes take measures to maintain links
between children and their families. Children are
separated from their families
or guardians if the latter are shown to be negligent in their duties.
D. Family reunification (art. 10)
- Articles
9 to 13 of the Basic Law emphasize the necessity of strengthening family ties
and of providing health, education, security,
food, water and other vital
services throughout all urban and rural areas of the Kingdom without compelling
anyone to live in a specific
place. Citizens have the right to travel and to
leave and return to the country whenever they want, while foreign residents can
do so in accordance with the Immigration and Travel Act, which guarantees their
security, safety, vital requirements and relations
with others. Foreign
residents also have the right to bring in their families in accordance with
specific regulations designed to
guarantee them an appropriate family
environment.
- The
State ensures to all citizens in the country and abroad the exercise of all the
rights to which they are entitled by virtue of
holding Saudi nationality. The
law provides for the reunification of families in order to allow parents and
children to fulfil their
obligations towards one another.
E. Illicit transfer and nonreturn of children abroad (art.
11)
- The
State protects and strives to ensure the safety of children during travel.
Custody of expatriate children is regulated in accordance
with Shariahbased
regulations which are designed to protect the best interests of the
child.
F. Recovery of maintenance for the child (art. 27, para.
4)
- The
law requires the head of the family in his capacity as the main breadwinner to
maintain his wife and children and imposes penalties
on breadwinners who are
able to pay maintenance but fail to do so.
- The
Social Welfare Homes’ Regulation promulgated in Decree No. 185 of 2/5
A.H. 1387 (8 August 1967) endeavours to prevent juvenile
delinquency by establishing conditions for the maintenance of orphaned and other
children who are no longer maintained by their guardian
because the guardian has
committed a crime, is ill or fails to pay maintenance. The State also provides
social assistance to needy
families through social security programmes or the
application of the regulations governing the kafalah of orphans and
minors, depending on the circumstances of the minor requiring assistance.
Moreover, at the request of an incapacitated
guardian, children can be placed in
social welfare homes or included in social security or kafalah schemes,
if such be in their best interests. The State provides children in social
welfare homes with board and lodging, clothing,
education and every facility for
recreation, sports and rehabilitation until they reach the age of 20, are able
to rely on themselves
or find a relative or other person who meets the relevant
criteria and is willing to maintain them.
G. Children deprived of a family environment (art. 20)
- The
State cares for children deprived of a family environment through a variety of
welfare programmes, including orphan welfare programmes,
social welfare centres,
social security programmes and the kafalah system. Each of these
programmes has its own set of regulations. The best interests of children are
taken into account when enrolling
them in programmes that have been selected to
meet their particular needs. A number of charitable associations offer children
a
range of health, social, residential, educational and cultural programmes,
including full guardianship in accordance with the conditions
laid down in the
regulation on guardianship of orphans.
- Centres
for children with disabilities provide a full package of care tailored to the
situation of each child, including accommodation,
assistance, rehabilitation,
treatment, education, guardianship, day care, etc., which takes account of the
best interests and the
health and social needs of each child.
- In
addition, social welfare homes take in children below the age of seven who have
been deprived of a family environment, including
them in other guardianship,
welfare, educational and protection programmes, depending on their personal
needs.
H. Adoption (art. 21)
- The
State applies the system of kafalah, which guarantees the child’s
right to live in conditions of greater freedom and dignity, enabling him or her
to realize his
or her potential.
- The
State lays down a number of conditions regulating kafalah and alternative
family arrangements in accordance with the Islamic Shariah and the best
interests of the child. These stipulate,
inter alia, that a family or a woman
wishing to assume kafalah must be of sound character and health and must
be of good social and financial standing. The State earmarks assistance for
alternative
families in need and has set up followup programmes to ensure that
alternative families carry out their obligations and do not abuse
the children
placed in their care under the kafalah system. Paragraph 4, subparagraph
1, of the policies set out in the sixth development plan advocates the
establishment of alternative
and foster families and the provision of assistance
to enable them to care for orphaned children and children with special
needs.
I. Periodic review of placement of children in institutions
(art. 25)
- Article
8, paragraph 7, of Cabinet Decision No. 185 of 2/5 A.H. 1387
(8 August 1967) stipulates that social welfare homes for boys
and
girls shall organize day and residential care for children at these homes
and ensure that religious observances are performed
at the correct times.
- Article
23 of the regulation on the statutes of social welfare homes stipulates that, in
addition to making visits in order to check
up on children’s health, the
visiting doctor must also perform other duties such as:
- − Verifying
compliance with hygiene regulations in the home;
- − Inspecting
kitchens, kitchen equipment, raw ingredients for meals, and methods of food
preparation;
- − Inspecting
dormitories and their contents.
- The
welfare institution must submit a regular report on the general state of each
child’s health once every six months, or if
necessary, every month. The
welfare authority may send one of its own specialists to visit and report on a
child living in one of
its institutions.
J. Abuse and neglect (art. 19) and physical and psychological
recovery
and social reintegration of the child (art. 39)
- The
State has enacted laws to protect society, particularly children, from
exploitation, neglect and inhuman treatment. The implementing
regulation on
welfare institutions for children with paralysis and other beneficiaries
stipulates, in paragraph 3, article 5, of
its chapter III entitled
“Social and Psychological Welfare”, that welfare institutions shall
endeavour to create an appropriate
social and psychological environment to
compensate, as far as possible, for the homesickness which children feel when
they are apart
from their families, teaching them to adapt to the group and
encouraging them to participate in the inhouse programmes and activities
which
each institution runs in order to explore their interests, goals and patterns of
behaviour with a view to providing them with
a proper education. These
institutions also organize family visits and teach families sound methods for
raising children in the family
environment.
- These
programmes are designed to be flexible enough to adjust to the needs, age and
state of health of each child. They also offer
children opportunities for
leisure in the form of organized trips, evening entertainment, film screenings,
etc. In addition, the
Labour Code promulgated in Decree No. M/21 of 6/9 A.H.
1389 (15 November 1969) provides for the protection of children in
articles
160 to 163 of its chapter X entitled “Employment of Minors and
Women”. Article 160 states: “Adolescents, minors
and women may not
be employed in hazardous or harmful work or occupations involving powerdriven
machinery or in mines, stone quarries
and the like. The Minister of Labour
shall issue a decision defining the occupations and types of work that are
harmful to health
or likely to pose particular risks to women, minors and
adolescents and shall prohibit or impose special conditions on their employment
in such work.” Article 161 stipulates: “Adolescents, minors and
women shall not be employed at night during a period
between sunset and sunrise
lasting for not less than 11 hours, save in the circumstances specified in a
decision of the Minister
of Labour concerning nonindustrial occupations and
situations of force majeure.” Article 162 states: “Minors and
adolescents
may not work for more than six hours a day and shall not be covered
by the exceptions provided for in articles 150 and 152 of this
Code.”
Article 163 stipulates: “Minors under the age of 13 shall not be admitted
to employment or places of work. The
Minister of Labour may decide to raise
this age limit for particular industries or sectors.”
- Before
employing a minor, the employer must obtain the following documents from the
minor and place them in a special file:
- − A birth
certificate or a certificate of the child’s estimated age issued by a
competent physician and endorsed by the
Ministry of Health;
- − A
medical fitness certificate issued by a competent physician and endorsed by the
Ministry of Health;
- − A
consent form signed by the minor’s legal guardian.
- Employers
must notify the competent labour office about each minor whom they employ within
one week from the date on which employment
commences. In addition to the
general records which employers are required to keep pursuant to article 10 of
the Code, special files
- must
be kept in the work premises containing details of each minor’s name, age
and address and the full name of the legal guardian,
together with the date
on which the employment commenced.
- Articles
7, 12 to 19, 21 and 28 of the Detention and Imprisonment Act promulgated in
Decree No. M/31 of 21/6 A.H. 139 (28 May 1978)
provide for the
protection of children.
- Article
7 states: “No one may be placed in a prison or detention centre or
transferred or released other than pursuant to a
written order issued by the
competent authority. No prisoner or detainee shall be kept in a prison or
detention centre beyond the
date specified in the detention order. The
implementing regulation shall define the procedures for recording
prisoners’ details
in the proper logbooks.” Article 12 states:
“The implementing regulation shall lay down the rules concerning
prisoners’
and detainees’ visits and correspondence. It shall also
establish rules on the treatment of detainees, including their right
to order
and pay for their own food, to wear their own clothing and any other rights and
privileges which they may be granted.”
- The
Minister for Internal Affairs may grant all or some of the privileges accorded
to persons who have been sentenced to up to one
year in prison for lesser
offences. Article 13 stipulates: “A prisoner or detainee who is
pregnant shall be given special
medical care from the first signs of pregnancy
until 40 days after delivery, in accordance with the terms of the implementing
regulation.”
Article 14 states: “A pregnant prisoner or detainee
must be transferred to a hospital when the time of her delivery approaches
and
must stay there until the physician allows her to be discharged.” Article
15 stipulates that: “The child shall
remain with the prisoner or detainee
until he or she reaches the age of 2. If the mother does not want to keep the
child with her
or once the child reaches the aforementioned age, the child shall
be entrusted to the care of the father or the person after the
mother who is
legally entitled to custody.”
- If
the child has no father or relatives, he or she shall be placed in a
children’s home. The mother must be told where the
child is being
kept and the implementing regulation will determine the procedure for allowing
the mother to see the child on a regular
basis.
- Article
18 of the same Act stipulates: “The Ministry of the Interior and the
authorities responsible for education and instruction
shall jointly design the
educational curricula to be used in prisons and detention centres.”
- The
implementing regulation defines the rules and procedures for allowing prisoners
and detainees to sit examinations at different
stages of education. It provides
for the establishment in each prison of a library of books on religious,
scientific and moral topics
in order to allow prisoners and detainees to make
good use of their free time.
- Prisoners
and detainees are allowed to have books, newspapers or magazines brought in at
their own expense in accordance with the
terms of the implementing regulation.
Article 19 of the Act stipulates: “The Ministry of the Interior and
the competent authorities
shall jointly establish social services programmes for
prisons and detention centres and the families of prisoners and
detainees.”
Article 21 stipulates: “No administrative procedure
shall be allowed to delay the timely release of a prisoner or detainee.”
Article 28 states: “It is not permissible to subject prisoners or
detainees to any form of assault.”
- Disciplinary
proceedings are taken against any civilian or military official who assaults a
prisoner or detainee without prejudice
to any criminal penalties that may be
inflicted if the assault constitutes a criminal offence.
VI. BASIC PUBLIC HEALTH AND SOCIAL WELFARE
A. Public health and health services (art. 24)
- The
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia demonstrates considerable concern for the health of all
its citizens, providing them with free health
care. Article 31 of the Basic Law
stipulates that: “The State shall protect public health and shall provide
health care for
every citizen.” Article 27 of the Basic Law affirms:
“The State shall guarantee the rights of citizens and their families
in
the event of an emergency, sickness, disability or old age. It shall support
the social security system and encourage individuals
and institutions to
contribute to charitable works.” Article 32 of the Basic Law stipulates
that: “The State shall
endeavour to conserve, protect and develop the
environment and to prevent pollution.” The general aims and policies of
development
plans accord high importance to public health and public services.
They are geared, inter alia, at the expansion of different types
of health
centres, the reduction of morbidity and mortality rates, ongoing delivery of
treatment and improvement of treatment standards,
and the maintenance of the
quality and efficiency of the health services provided to all sectors of
society, including Saudi and
foreign men and women.
Primary health and social welfare budgets
State budget
allocations for the Ministry of Health and Red Crescent Society
(A.H.
1411/14121420/1421 (1991/2001))
|
Thousands of SRIs
|
Charge 1405/1406 = 100
|
1411/1412
|
9 901 100
|
110.5
|
1412/1413
|
9 052 032
|
101.1
|
1413/1414
|
10 109 612
|
101.1
|
1414/1415
|
8 267 946
|
92.3
|
1415/1416
|
7 503 020
|
83.3
|
1416/1417
|
10 950 419
|
122.3
|
1417/1418
|
10 950 419
|
122.3
|
1418/1419
|
1 243 562
|
138.9
|
1419/1420
|
11 545 076
|
128.9
|
1420/1421
|
13 288 600
|
148.4
|
1423/1424
|
13 857 430
|
|
Evolution of State budget allocations for social
services
(A.H. 1412/14131421/1422 (1991/2002))
|
Millions of SRIs
|
Evolution 1405/1406 = 100
|
1412/1413
|
49 814.4
|
101.8
|
1413/1414
|
53 887.8
|
110.1
|
1414/1415
|
47 925.0
|
97.9
|
1415/1416
|
44 330.7
|
90.6
|
1416/1417
|
44 979.3
|
91.9
|
1417/1418
|
63 918
|
130.6
|
1418/1419
|
70 861.1
|
144.8
|
1419/1420
|
65 986.0
|
134.8
|
1420/1421
|
73 707.6
|
180.6
|
1421/1422
|
80 455.2
|
164.4
|
- The
tenth basic strategy set out in the seventh development plan for the period
A.H. 14201425 (20002004) illustrates the attention
that is paid to the
social welfare and health of Saudi society and to persons with welfare
needs by:
- − Focusing
on caring for mothers and children in all spheres and at all levels, including
through the development of maternal
welfare programmes and maternal and child
healthcare services;
- − Paying
greater attention to persons with disabilities through the introduction of
national rehabilitation and welfare programmes
and the opening up of
opportunities for their employment;
- − Demonstrating
concern for primary health care with an emphasis on health awareness and
preventive medicine, improving the
effectiveness of preventive and therapeutic
health institutions, and expanding health programmes to cover all
citizens.
- As
confirmation of the State’s concern for family health, Royal Decree No. 5
of 4/1 A.H. 1423 (18 March 2002) concerning the
application of health regulations to all citizens intending to marry was
promulgated to prevent hereditary diseases and protect children
from
disabilities and genetic diseases by offering screening services free of
charge.
- The
Ministry of Health, in partnership with a large number of governmental,
nongovernmental and private organizations, delivers therapeutic,
preventive,
rehabilitative and developmental health services and organizes training,
research and educational activities in accordance
with clear policies that are
consistent with the State’s plan for delivering health care to citizens,
foreign residents and
disabled persons without any discrimination among
them.
- According
to the Ministry of Health figures for 2001, the Kingdom had a total
of 324 hospitals and 46,662 hospital beds, in addition
to 1,786
primary health centres.
- The
Ministry of Health is allocated 8 per cent of the gross national
product (GNP), which in 2001, amounted to some 14 billion riyals.
A
separate budget, representing 35 per cent of the Ministry’s
total budget, is earmarked for primary health care with a focus
on health
awareness and health education for all segments of society and maternal health
care.
- The
Health Act and its implementing regulation were recently promulgated in Royal
Decree No. M/11 of 23/3 A.H. 1423 (4 June 2002).
Article 3 of the Act
stipulates that the State shall deliver health care and protect public health in
order to enable people to
live in a healthy environment. In particular, the
State must guarantee:
- − Access
to safe drinking water;
- − Safe
and clean sanitation systems;
- − The
safety of food on the market;
- − The
safety of medicines, drugs and medical supplies, and their use;
- − The
protection of society from the effects of drugs and alcohol;
- − The
protection of the country from infectious diseases;
- − The
protection of the environment from the dangers of various types of
pollution;
- − The
establishment of health regulations for public places;
- − The
promotion of public health awareness.
- Article
4 of the Act requires the State to provide the following health
services:
- − Mother
and child care;
- − Vaccination
programmes;
- − Health
care for persons with disabilities and older persons;
- − Health
care for students;
- − Health
care in the event of an accident, emergency or natural disaster;
- − Prevention
and eradication of infectious and contagious diseases;
- − Treatment
for complex conditions, including the excision of tumours, limb transplants and
treatment of kidney failure;
- − Psychiatric
services.
- Article
5 requires the Ministry of Health to prepare vital health statistics, to
conduct, analyse and use the results of scientific
studies and research, and
establish protocols for the conduct of clinical and pharmaceuticals research and
trials.
- One
of the critical indicators of the success that has been scored in the past two
decades with regard to the elimination and prevention
of infectious diseases is
the reduction in the incidence of most infectious diseases. This reduction is
particularly sharp among
diseases targeted for immunization and is a result of
the rise in vaccination coverage rates. The Kingdom achieved universal coverage
in 1990, ahead of the 2000 deadline, thanks to the expansion of the primary
healthcare programme run by primary healthcare centres
throughout the Kingdom
and to greater health awareness and compliance on the part of families with
vaccination regulations. The
incidence of diphtheria fell from 99.0 per 100,000
inhabitants in 1980 to zero in 2000. The incidence of whooping cough fell from
98.3 in 1980 to 1.0 in 2000, and the incidence of neonatal tetanus fell from
0.31 per 1,000 live births in 1980 to 0.03 in 2000.
- In
this connection, the Kingdom met its target for eliminating tetanus in 1986. It
also succeeded in eliminating infant poliomyelitis
during the second half of the
last decade of the twentieth century, thanks to the national vaccination
campaigns which were conducted
between 1995 and 2000. As a result of the
programme on the eradication of measles, German measles and mumps, which was
launched
in 1998, the incidence of those diseases fell from 461.9 per 100,000 in
1980 to 2.97 in 2000. The expanded immunization programme
maintained its robust
performance, attaining overall coverage rates of over 96.2 per cent
for all vaccinations in 2001. This is
reflected in the steady decline in the
incidence of diseases targeted for immunization, as shown in the following
table:
Disease
|
Incidence per 100,000 population
|
Vaccination coverage among infants
|
1999
|
2000
|
2001
|
2001
|
Diphtheria
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
96.8%
|
Pertussis (whooping cough)
|
0.04
|
0.10
|
0.17
|
96.8%
|
Neonatal tetanus
|
0.02
|
0.03
|
0.05
|
96.8%
|
Poliomyelitis
|
0.00
|
0.00
|
0.00
|
96.8%
|
Measles
|
14.03
|
2.97
|
0.74
|
94.4%
|
Mumps
|
11.41
|
6.69
|
4.51
|
96.3%
|
German measles
|
1.49
|
0.97
|
0.08
|
96.3%
|
Hepatitis B
|
15.32
|
16.19
|
18.54
|
95.4%
|
- With
the introduction in 2002 of the influenza vaccination for all children in the
Kingdom, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia took its place
alongside advanced nations
in terms of basic vaccination coverage for children.
- The
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has initiated studies on the implementation of the
International Code of Marketing of BreastMilk Substitutes
with a view to
promoting breastfeeding and babyfriendly hospitals that focus primarily on
breastfeeding and educating mothers and
health sector workers about the
importance of breastfeeding.
- Structural
plans for the improvement of medical services include the establishment of a
Saudi institute of specialized medicine to
evaluate health personnel according
to international criteria with a view to creating a pool of qualified personnel
who can help
to improve the quality of public service provision.
- In
order to protect society from infectious, indigenous or imported diseases,
campaigns have been conducted to administer meningitis
vaccinations through all
primary healthcare centres. These vaccinations are offered free of charge to
anyone wishing to perform
the Hajj (pilgrimage), in view of the large numbers of
people who enter the country. They are also offered free to all citizens
and
foreign residents and to children, adolescents and adults of both sexes.
- Social
centres have been set up to provide women with advice about early childhood,
motherhood and childcare and training. They operate
through charitable and
voluntary centres, as well as family medicine centres in large medical complexes
and institutions. The centres
also produce and distribute literature containing
information and advice about antenatal and postnatal care to help women to
improve
their knowledge in this area. These services are well received
throughout the country.
- A
national plan for early detection of food assimilation disorders and hereditary
glandular disorders has been adopted in light of
the success of the early
screening programme for thyroid disorders, which is now being implemented. All
newborns will be screened
for 15 hereditary diseases so that specialists can
intervene at an early stage if necessary.
- A
national project on the treatment of autism and developmental disorders has been
set up and is in the process of being implemented.
The Saudi Autism Association
and three earlyintervention centres for the treatment of autistic children have
been given official
approval.
B. General healthcare indicators
- Survey
data and studies are of the utmost importance when drawing up preliminary
indicators on levels of health care provision. Attention
is drawn to the
following indicators, which highlight the key features of healthcare
coverage:
Health indicators prepared and published by the Ministry of
Health
for the period A.H. 14201421 (2000/2001)
|
%
|
Crude birth rate per 1,000
|
31.0
|
Crude mortality rate per 1,000
|
3.8
|
Population growth rate (%)
|
3.39
|
Life expectancy at birth
|
71.4
|
Infant mortality rate per 1,000
|
19.1
|
Underfive mortality rate per 1,000
|
30.0
|
Maternal mortality rate per 100,000 live births
|
17.6
|
Main indicators regarding the rate of vaccination
coverage
|
%
|
Triple vaccine and polio (3 doses)
|
96.8
|
Measles vaccine
|
94.4
|
Tuberculosis vaccine
|
94.4
|
Hepatitis B vaccine
|
95.4
|
Triple virus vaccine (MMR)
|
96.3
|
Table 3
Incidence of infectious diseases among under5s
per 100,000 live births
|
%
|
Diphtheria
|
0.0
|
Pertussis (whooping cough)
|
0.17
|
Neonatal tetanus (per 1,000 live births)
|
0.05
|
Poliomyelitis
|
0.0
|
Measles
|
0.74
|
Tuberculosis (per 100,000)
|
16.4
|
Mumps
|
4.51
|
German measles (rubella)
|
0.08
|
- Polio
and diphtheria have been completely eradicated, while the morbidity rate for
infectious diseases in the Kingdom is quite low.
Likewise, child malnutrition
has vanished, except for obesity disorders, which are now being dealt with
through healthychild clinics,
maternal health education programmes, the media
and psychotherapy institutions. Ninetyfour per cent of pregnant women
receive antenatal
care and the percentage of deliveries attended by a qualified
birth attendant in a health institution rose from 92.2 per cent in
1996 to 94.8 per cent. According to the latest Ministry of Health
figures, postnatal coverage now stands at 92 per cent.
- The
school health units run by the Ministry of Education deliver school health
services in accordance with the principles of the right
to life, survival and
development enunciated in article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child. They also provide treatment
in accordance with article 24 of the
Convention and in coordination with Ministry of Health programmes in order to
avoid duplication
and protect the best interests of children from early
childhood up to late adolescence.
- School
health services:
- − Ensure
the development of boys and girls of school age during all stages of education
up to late adolescence;
- − Control
and prevent the spread of infectious and contagious diseases;
- − Create
a healthy school environment by sending in health unit teams to conduct school
inspections and by monitoring playground
injuries and children’s
accidents;
- − Control
and protect the school environment to ensure that it is suitable for
children;
- − Provide
full and free immunization coverage against infectious diseases;
- − Provide
first aid training and establish groups of trained personnel to deliver this
service;
- − Supervise
students’ social, psychological and mental health programmes and expand
psychological counselling units to
cover all areas of education;
- − Implement
early screening programmes for hereditary diseases and visual and auditory
disabilities, as well as dental hygiene
programmes (comprehensive survey);
- − Perform
medical examinations on new students in all stages of education, as well as
periodic checkups on all students; compile
medical records on all students;
deliver appropriate treatment; and refer cases to hospital where necessary;
- − Provide
health education about worldwide diseases such as sexuallytransmitted diseases
and AIDS, as well as about oral and
dental hygiene and the dangers of smoking
and drugs;
- − Emphasize
the importance of proper nutrition by providing students with nourishing
meals.
C. Disabled children (art. 23)
- The
Kingdom shows great concern for the welfare, education, rehabilitation and
training of persons with disabilities, in accordance
with article 27 of the
Basic Law, which provides: “The State shall guarantee the rights of
citizens and their families in
the event of an emergency, sickness, disability
or old age. It supports the social security system and encourages institutions
and
individuals to contribute to charitable works.” Paragraph 2 of the
tenth strategic basis of the fifth development plan emphasizes
the need to pay
greater attention to the disabled and to introduce national programmes which
provide for their rehabilitation and
care and facilitate their admission to
employment.
- As
confirmation of this concern, Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, Crown Prince,
Deputy Prime Minister and Commander of the National
Guard, was appointed to
chair the Higher Council for Disabled Affairs pursuant to Royal Order No. O/66
of 27/4 A.H. 1423 (7 July
2002).
- Numerous
specialists manage the care of disabled children in educational and
rehabilitation institutions run by the Government or
private or charitable
associations. Great emphasis is laid on developing the residual capacities of
children with physical, mental
or sensory disabilities through programmes,
institutes and centres which offer medical, social, psychological and individual
care,
physiotherapy and medical rehabilitation services for children with
multiple and severe disabilities who cannot be rehabilitated
at home.
1. Welfare and rehabilitation services
- Vocational
rehabilitation programmes teach males and females vocational skills that are
compatible with their mental, motor or psychological
disabilities. These
programmes are run by vocational rehabilitation centres and every trainee
receives a monthly stipend.
- Social
rehabilitation programmes are run by social rehabilitation centres for severely
disabled children. The centres provide board
and lodging, clothing,
physiotherapy and medical, social and psychological services. There are 24
such centres in various parts
of the Kingdom.
- Children
with palsy receive care at specialized centres which have boarding and daycare
sections delivering social, health, psychological,
cultural and leisure
services.
- The
country has a total of 34 daycare centres for severely disabled children who are
returned to their families in the evening. The
parents of disabled children
receive regular benefits to help them care fully for their children. These
benefits, which amount on
average to SR 300,000,000 per year, cover the costs of
wheelchairs, miscellaneous and assistive, hearing, visual and mechanical devices
and medical supplies. The country has more than 20 medical rehabilitation and
prosthetics centres which are run by government bodies
and charitable
associations.
- Charitable
and voluntary services are encouraged through the establishment of charitable
associations throughout the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia. These associations make an
outstanding contribution to the welfare of disabled persons, providing them with
accommodation,
education, training, medical treatment, physiotherapy and
transport services, and offering social assistance to their families.
These
associations receive major support from the State.
- The
National Committee for the Welfare of the Disabled, with members from relevant
governmental, private and charitable institutions,
was established to coordinate
and support efforts to provide assistance for the disabled.
Numbers and types of social welfare centres and institutions
operating
in the year A.H. 1421/1422 (2001/2002)
|
Number of centres and institutions
|
Social welfare, guidance and surveillance centres
|
20
|
Social education centres
|
14
|
Social, vocational and comprehensive rehabilitation centres
|
28
|
Social service centres and welfare institutions
|
29
|
Social development committees
|
114
|
Total
|
194
|
Charitable associations
|
Established by 2001/2002
|
246
|
Projected by the end of the plan
|
259
|
Cooperative associations
|
Established by 2001/2002
|
156
|
Projected by the end of the plan
|
167
|
2. Educational and pedagogical services
- Special
education institutions were introduced in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in
A.H. 1378 (1959), when the first programme for the
education of the blind
was set up in Riyadh. Education for the disabled and other special categories
continued to expand, the number
of governmental and private institutes and
programmes reaching 1,117 in A.H. 1423 (2002). These institutes and programmes
are present
throughout the Kingdom and are supervised by the Ministry of
Education. They offer services for children with visual, auditory,
mental,
physical and multiple disabilities and autism, as well as other special
categories such as children with learning difficulties,
etc.
- In
addition to education, Ministry of Education institutes and programmes deliver
other free services such as health, psychological
and social care, and free
board, lodging and clothing for children who are unable to enrol in programmes
near their homes. These
programmes are managed in a comprehensive way in order
to provide children with an integrated package of care.
- The
institutes and programmes follow general education curricula, parts of which are
modified to take account of the nature of each
disability.
- Male
and female students receive a monthly stipend of between SR 300 to 450,
depending on the educational stage, in order to encourage
them to seek
knowledge. These groups are provided with the following free complementary
services:
- − The
talking library for the blind;
- − Hearing
and speech centres for the profoundly deaf and persons with auditory and speech
impairments;
- − Special
education presses which print Braille;
- − Special
equipment, devices and aids for disabled children;
- − Centres
for the production of educational materials tailored to each type of
disability;
- − Cultural
and awareness programmes such as:
- − Radio
programmes (AlNur Institutes for the Blind and AlAmal Institutes for the
Deaf);
- − Printing
in Braille of the Holy Koran and certain scientific and cultural publications
and their distribution free of charge
throughout the Kingdom and abroad;
- − Access
to educational, scientific and other informational materials;
- − Magazines
about disability and persons with disabilities.
- Training
for special education teachers has been organized as follows:
- − A
special education department has been set up at the King Saud University;
- − Efforts
have been made to recruit qualified teachers holding higher degrees in special
education;
- − Teachers
are encouraged to attend specialized courses run in the Kingdom and abroad;
- − Teachers
participate in expert meetings, seminars and conferences held in the Kingdom and
abroad;
- − A
number of national experts have been sent on postgraduate courses to specialize
in various types of disabilities;
- − Specialists
in this field receive a monthly bonus equivalent to 30 per cent of
their salary;
- − The
Prince Salman Centre for Disability Research was established within the
framework of the projects run by the Handicapped
Children’s
Society.
- At
present, attention is being focused on integrating disabled children with their
peers into schools, cultural and sporting events,
scouting and artistic camps
and national celebrations at home and abroad. To this end, development
programmes have been established
to provide for the following:
- − The
introduction of methods designed to integrate disabled children with their
nondisabled peers through classes attached
to public schools and through
resources room programmes and travelling teacher schemes, in order to create a
less isolated educational
environment, consistent with the type and severity of
the disability;
- − The
introduction of special education programmes throughout all stages of education
beginning at kindergarten, and the establishment
of a flexible approach to the
age of admission and promotion from one stage to another;
- − Cooperation
with regional and international organizations and specialized agencies with a
view to exchanging experiences and
improving services in this field;
- − The
development of vocational education curricula for deaf children in the secondary
stage and the use of other programmes
to teach vocational skills;
- − Participation
in special federations and organizations such as the World Blind Union and the
World Federation of the Deaf.
3. Facilities and aids
- The
disabled are provided with facilities that enable them to live in greater
dignity and comfort. For example:
- − Disabled
persons and their escorts receive a 50 per cent discount on all public
transport by rail, sea and air;
- − Assistive
devices and audiovisual aids are provided free of charge;
- − Disabled
persons who gain vocational qualifications from a rehabilitation centre receive
a grant of SR 50,000 to help them
start up their own enterprise schemes;
- − Disabled
parking spaces are provided on public streets and close to public gardens,
leisure parks, government buildings and
airports to facilitate access for
persons with disabilities;
- − Paraplegics
are given an allowance to convert their vehicles to manual control;
- − Persons
with disabilities are given the opportunity to participate in national and
international sports and cultural competitions;
- − A
disabled sports’ federation has been established and has training centres
in 10 regions of the Kingdom;
- − Committees
have been established to coordinate welfare services for the disabled;
- − Employment
opportunities are provided by the Government and private sectors;
- − Home
care is provided;
- − Equipment
for disabled persons is exempt of customs duty;
- − Disabled
persons have access to special libraries such as talking libraries, and to audio
books.
- The
needs of disabled persons are taken into account when designing, approving the
design of or issuing permits for the construction
of buildings, which must have
disabled parking spaces, access routes for wheelchairs and doors that allow
persons with disabilities
to move easily around multipurpose government and
private buildings.
- Persons
with disabilities are given priority and administrative assistance when it
comes to the allocation of housing. The following
table shows the
number of children with disabilities who were enrolled in institutes, centres
and programmes in A.H. 14221423 (20002001):
Disabled children enrolled in Ministry of Education special
education institutes
and programmes in the A.H. 1422/1423 (2001/2002)
academic year
|
Institutes and programmes
|
Students
|
1. Persons with auditory disabilities: (a) Profoundly deaf
(b) Hearing impaired (c) Multiple disabilities
|
136 56 5
|
5 308 1 063 22
|
Total
|
197
|
6 393
|
2. Persons with visual disabilities: (a) Blind (b)
Visually impaired (c) Multiple disabilities
|
61 1 6
|
1 154 2 000 32
|
Total
|
68
|
3 186
|
3. Persons with total disability: (a) Receptive to learning
(b) Multiple disability
|
267 12
|
8 396 102
|
Total
|
279
|
8 471
|
4. Persons with autism
|
19
|
146
|
5. Persons with learning difficulties
|
556
|
7 598
|
6. Persons with physical and motor disabilities
|
1
|
1 642
|
Total
|
1 120
|
27 436
|
Services offered to persons with disabilities through Ministry
of Education
institutes, programmes and special education centres for the
academic year
A.H. 1422/1423
(2001/2002)
|
Beneficiaries by group
|
Nos. of institutes, programmes and centres
|
1. Residential institutes
|
Profoundly deaf Blind Mentally retarded (receptive to
learning)
|
16 8 7
|
Total
|
31
|
2. Daycare institutes
|
Profoundly deaf Blind Mentally retarded (receptive to
learning)
|
16 5 14
|
|
Total
|
35
|
3. Supplementary classes in special education institutes
|
Profoundly deaf adults (literacy, intermediate and secondary
stages) Autistic Multiple disabilities
|
10
11 17
|
|
Total
|
38
|
4. Supplementary classes in regular schools
|
Blind Profoundly deaf Profoundly deaf adults (literacy,
intermediate and secondary stages) Hearing impaired Mentally
retarded (receptive to learning) Autistic Multiple disabilities
|
4 90 4
27 246
9 5
|
|
Total
|
385
|
Total for supplementary classes
|
423
|
5. Programmes for resources rooms
|
Learning difficulties Blind Hearing impaired
|
547 43 10
|
|
Total
|
600
|
6. Roving teacher programmes
|
Hearing impaired
|
4
|
Total
|
4
|
7. Advisory teacher programmes
|
Hearing impaired
|
3
|
Total
|
3
|
8. Special education programmes
|
Visually impaired Hearing impaired
|
1 1
|
Total
|
2
|
9. Ancillary centres: (a) Hearing and speech centres
(mornings and evenings) (b) Centres for persons with
learning difficulties (evenings) (c) Noor Centre for Educational
Services (mornings)
|
Hearing impaired and mentally retarded Learning
difficulties
Visually impaired
|
12
9 1
|
Total
|
22
|
Grand total
|
1 120
|
VII. EDUCATION, TRAINING, LEISURE AND
CULTURAL
ACTIVITIES
A. Education
- The
education sector is a key sector of concern for the State, because of the
importance of its role in developing human resources,
increasing their
productivity and keeping pace with scientific and technological innovations.
This concern is reflected in article
30 of the Basic Law, which stipulates that
the State must provide public education and undertake to eradicate illiteracy,
and in
article 29 of the Basic Law, which affirms that the State promotes
science, the arts and culture, encourages scientific research,
preserves the
Arab and Islamic heritage and encourage contributions to Arab, Islamic and human
civilization.
- Development
plans concentrate on the quality of public education and the development of
students’ intellectual capacities.
The eighth strategic basis of the
seventh development plan (A.H. 1420-1425 i.e. 2000-2004) states that educational
outputs shall
be improved in accordance with the Islamic Shariah, the changing
needs of society and development requirements, through the
following:
- − The
introduction of compulsory primary education for boys and girls;
- − The
updating and development of academic curricula and teaching methods, the
improvement of teachers’ skills, and the
design of teaching tools to
satisfy the real needs of society;
- − Efforts
to resolve the problem of students dropping out of school during all stages of
education;
- − Greater
emphasis on sciences and applied sciences in universities and research
centres;
- − The
organization of extra-curricular activities for all stages of education;
- − Ensuring
the integration and flexibility of streams and branches of
education.
- The
strategy for the public education sector for the seventh development plan aims
at achieving qualitative and quantitative improvements
through the pursuance of
the following objectives, policies and programmes:
Objectives
− To provide educational opportunities for all
citizens of school age;
− To improve quantitative and qualitative standards in education;
− To improve operational and managerial standards;
− To develop national manpower;
− To focus more on providing vocational education and training for girls
and on expanding vocational secondary schools;
− To eradicate illiteracy and expand adult education and adult literacy
programmes;
− To promote cultural, scientific and extra-curricular activities;
− To improve educational programmes for students with special needs;
− To draw attention to the importance of services for gifted children and
children with exceptional abilities;
− To establish educational schemes and facilities, improve existing
schemes and facilities, and mobilize private sector funding
for that
purpose.
Policies
− To improve internal efficiency by introducing
a system of automatic promotion in the first grades of the primary stage, while
at the same time maintaining educational quality standards;
− To improve the quality of education by evaluating and developing school
curricula and teaching methods in accordance with
general development
requirements, drawing on the expertise of research centres which specialize in
this field and according priority
to ongoing teacher training;
− To encourage the introduction of computer sciences in secondary
education with a view to extending them to the primary and
intermediate
stages;
− To expand educational programmes for the nursery and kindergarten stages
and encourage the private sector to contribute to
the establishment and
expansion of nurseries;
− To streamline educational spending by improving organizational capacity,
increasing the efficiency of human resources, resolving
internal difficulties,
reducing the average number of academic years, increasing the use of modern
educational technologies, and
supporting private sector institutions;
− To improve and develop educational management through the selection of
qualified personnel and the intensification of training;
− To boost the private sector’s role in funding the construction of
school buildings and educational facilities, and
to supplement the regulations
concerning the taking of gifts and
donations;
− To utilize the resources of specialized research centres to conduct
various kinds of educational research and evaluate educational
programmes to see
whether they are meeting their own targets;
− To develop students’ awareness of, and encourage them to
participate in, voluntary services, organizing training courses
to improve their
skills and capacities.
Programmes
- The
programmes in this sector focus on the development of educational management,
employment, students’ services, extra-curricular
activities and facilities
and the delivery of educational services to match the steady increase in the
numbers of students in public
education.
- Public
education is made available for all children. There are kindergarten, primary,
intermediate and secondary schools (for boys
and girls) all over the country,
including in villages and hamlets. The figures for A.H. 1423/1424
(2002/2003) indicate that 4,831,310
pupils were enrolled in basic education
in the Kingdom.
- Article
10 of the Kingdom’s educational policy is consistent with article 28 of
the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
All children have a right to
education on the basis of equal opportunity. Articles 29, 53 and 63 of the
educational policy emphasize
the need for academic curricula to take account of
the specific characteristics of children’s development, ensuring their
proper
spiritual, mental, emotional and social development and cultivating their
particular talents.
- The
Kingdom’s educational policy is consistent with the Convention on the
Rights of the Child from many points of view, including
with regard
to:
- − The
protection of the child from economic exploitation and from performing any work
that is likely to be hazardous, to interfere
with the child’s education,
or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual,
moral or social development.
At all stages of education children receive
academic and vocational advice in order to help them choose a suitable future
profession
(art. 32);
- − The
adoption of all appropriate measures, including legislative, administrative,
social and educational measures, to protect
children from the illicit use of
narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances and from all forms of sexual
exploitation (arts. 33 and
34).
- Perhaps
the most important administrative regulations to be issued in the educational
domain were Royal Order No. O/2 of 10/1 A.H.
1423
(24 March 2002), incorporating the General Presidency for the
Education of Girls into the Ministry of Education, Royal Approval
No. 7/B/5388 of 3/3 A.H. 1423 (15 May 2002), making the
kindergarten stage a separate stage of general education, and Royal Order
No. O/2 of 28/2 A.H. 1424 (29 April 2003) changing the
name of the Ministry of Education.
B. The Kingdom’s education system
- The
education system is made up of the following stages:
The pre-primary stage,
comprising:
(a) Nurseries
- Nurseries
are educational centres or units which take in children from 1 to 3 years of
age. Children attending nurseries need special
care. Nurseries are an
extension of the home and endeavour to create a homey atmosphere.
- Nursery
classes have been set up in school complexes and large schools for girls so as
to cater for young children and help mothers
employed in the education
sector to care for their children. In the academic year A.H. 1421/1422
(2000/2001), 199 schools had a
total of 177 nursery classes catering
for some 1,009 pupils.
(b) Kindergartens
- Kindergartens
are social education institutions which look after children during the
three years prior to admission to primary education.
They focus on
different aspects of a child’s development, including linguistic,
physical, social, psychological, cognitive,
communicative and other forms of
development, and endeavour to create the best possible conditions for sound and
balanced growth
in these areas, offering programmes comprising play,
entertainment and study.
- Because
of the importance of this stage, Royal Approval No. 7/B/5388 of 3/3 A.H. 1423
(15 May 2002) made the kindergarten stage a
basic stage of general
education, and a plan and timetable were drawn up as part of the country’s
development plans to expand
kindergartens throughout the Kingdom and enlist the
private sector (private education) in this endeavour. Effective educational
curricula for kindergartens have been designed to achieve the objectives of this
stage.
- Article
117 of the Kingdom’s educational policy document states that the Ministry
of Education shall establish kindergartens
in accordance with the State’s
policy of encouraging nurseries and kindergartens and in order to raise
educational standards
as one aspect of caring for young children.
- Other
institutions which have contributed significantly to the expansion of
kindergartens include the Ministry of Defence and Aviation,
the Ministry of
Labour and Social Affairs, the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanba`, the
National Guard, and the private sector
consisting of private education
establishments monitored by the Ministry of Education.
- The
incorporation of all educational institutions into the Ministry of Education,
pursuant to Royal Order No. O/2 of 28/2 A.H. 1424
(29 April 2003), helped to
consolidate these endeavours. The State has made the following endeavours to
support this stage:
- − It has
expanded the construction and fitting out of kindergartens and has also expanded
the construction of special education
schools to accommodate children with
various disabilities within the framework of a programme to integrate disabled
children with
their peers;
- − It
cares for the health and welfare of children by organizing complete medical
checkups for children enrolling in school,
providing children with health
information, encouraging them to pay attention to personal hygiene and teaching
them healthy habits;
- − It has
established cultural development centres and equipped them with appropriate
educational tools, facilities for the pursuit
of hobbies, libraries, and
equipment for children’s entertainment;
- − It has
set up children’s libraries and children’s sections in public
libraries and supplies them with a steady
flow of new children’s books and
magazines.
The following table contains some data about the
kindergarten stage in the academic year A.H. 1422/23 (2002/2003).
Schools
|
Classes
|
Number of students
|
Teaching staff
|
Administrative staff
|
1 074
|
5 212
|
92 836
|
9 642
|
995
|
Public education, comprising:
(a) The primary
stage
- The
primary stage prepares the rising generation for the coming stages of education.
It is at this stage that children learn the fundamentals
of the true faith and
how to behave properly and acquire the knowledge, information and skills which
they need for their lives.
Every child of school age spends six years in
primary education.
(b) Intermediate stage
- The
intermediate stage is a general cultural stage designed to provide the rising
generation with a comprehensive religious, intellectual,
physical and moral
education that takes account of the development and changes which young persons
go through. Like other stages,
its aim is to achieve general educational
objectives. It lasts for three years.
(c) Secondary stage
- The
secondary stage is special because of the students’ age and development at
that stage. It calls for different types of
instruction and training and
comprises various branches in which the holders of intermediate certificates can
enrol in accordance
with the regulations established by the institutions
concerned. It comprises general secondary schools, scientific secondary
colleges,
vocational secondary colleges of different kinds (agriculture,
industrial and commercial) and technical and sports colleges.
- Like
other stages, the secondary stage helps to achieve the general aims of
education, in addition to its own particular aims. The
period of study last
three years.
The following table shows the evolution of general
education over the last five years (A.H. 1418/1423 1997-2002).
|
A.H. 1418/1419 1997/1998
|
A.H. 1419/1420 1998/1999
|
A.H. 1420/1421 1999/2000
|
A.H. 1421/1422 2000/2001
|
A.H. 1422/1423 2001/2002
|
Schools
|
Males
|
11 869
|
12 323
|
12 621
|
13 019
|
13 455
|
Females
|
12 833
|
13 598
|
13 941
|
14 423
|
14 957
|
Classes
|
Males
|
94 596
|
97 386
|
98 015
|
101 587
|
103 795
|
Females
|
91 891
|
97 577
|
99 361
|
101 379
|
102 378
|
Students
|
Males
|
2 102 547
|
2 171 130
|
2 228 397
|
2 266 660
|
2 310 171
|
Females
|
2 053 432
|
2 223 382
|
2 296 220
|
2 348 552
|
2 383 151
|
Teachers
|
Males
|
150 759
|
157 148
|
161 712
|
172 704
|
180 776
|
Females
|
183 420
|
200 303
|
199 740
|
205 736
|
213 223
|
The following table shows the total number of students enrolled in all stages
of general education from A.H. 1418-1422 (1996-2002).
Academic year (A.H.)
|
Public spending
|
Total number of students
|
Expenditure per student
|
1417/18
|
41 264 000 000
|
3 756 257
|
10 985
|
1418/19
|
45 595 000 000
|
3 867 585
|
11 789
|
1419/20
|
42 889 000 000
|
3 999 778
|
10 723
|
1420/21
|
49 381 000 000
|
4 113 922
|
12 003
|
1421/22
|
533 000 000
|
4 168 574
|
12 731
|
C. Parallel education
- Parallel
education consists of other areas of education which operate in parallel to all
stages of public school education. These
include:
(a) Private education
- Private
education is education provided by individuals or private institutions under the
supervision of the competent State authorities.
A private school is any
non-governmental school which offers any form of general, vocational or special
education at the stage prior
to higher education.
Private education in A.H. 1422 (2001)
|
2 270
|
Classes
|
17 547
|
Students
|
327 434
|
Teachers
|
32 324
|
(b) Foreign education
- Foreign
education provides other systems of education that are suitable for certain
nonSaudi children. The first foreign schools
were built in the Kingdom in
A.H. 1394 (1974), in accordance with Cabinet Decision No. 2007
of 3/12 A.H. 1394 (16 December 1974),
which provided for the
establishment of the Saudi Arabian International School to offer an
appropriate education to the sons and
daughters of foreigners, particularly
non-Muslims, living in the Kingdom. The school subsequently opened its doors to
children of
all nationalities and faiths.
- A
few years after the construction of the Saudi Arabian International School, the
number of foreigners of different nationalities
living in the Kingdom rose
sharply. In order to satisfy the needs of foreign expatriate communities, more
foreign schools, including
the American School, the British School, the Indian
and Pakistani schools, the Ethiopian School, the Ghanaian School, etc.,
were
opened to provide each foreign community with its own school. The schools
follow the set curricula and system of schooling used
in the country of origin,
making it easier for a foreign student to transfer from a school in his or her
own country to his community’s
school in the Kingdom and back again
without affecting his or her studies. There are presently 178 approved
foreign schools in the
Kingdom, catering for over 100,000 students of
different nationalities.
(c) Special education
- As
confirmation of the State’s determination to provide an education for all
children, including those with special circumstances,
His Royal Highness
Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Adul Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister and
Commander of the National Guard, was appointed
Chairman of the Higher Council
for Disabled Affairs pursuant to Royal Order No. O/66 of 27/4
A.H. 1423 (7 July 2002).
- The
Ministry of Education has begun to integrate children with disabilities into
regular schools, helping to change society’s
attitudes towards persons
with disabilities and enabling children with disabilities to acquire suitable
life skills.
- By
A.H. 1423 (2002), the Secretariat for Special Education at the Ministry of
Education had implemented 1,117 educational programmes
for a total of 27,436
children with special needs throughout all regions and governorates of the
Kingdom. In addition to integration
programmes for children with disabilities,
there are other welfare programmes for severely disabled children, who are
offered health,
psychological and social care, free board and lodging, and
monthly stipends, depending on the educational stage, to encourage them
to study
and to pursue knowledge. This is in addition to the assistance that is given to
their families.
D. Welfare of gifted children
- In
view of the considerable importance the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia attaches to
education, it offers special care to gifted students
in order to explore,
develop and enhance their cognitive and intellectual capacities and place them
in the service of the country.
Accordingly, a pioneering programme has
been introduced to identify gifted children from among students in all
parts of the Kingdom.
The establishment of the King Abdul Aziz and His
Companions’
Foundation in A.H. 1420 (2000), under the Chairmanship of His Royal Highness
Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, the beloved Crown Prince,
underscores the
importance of this programme.
- The
care which the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia offers to gifted children is based on a
principle which has long been advocated in the
country’s educational
policy. Chapter 9 of the Kingdom’s educational policy document
contains sections that accord the
utmost importance to gifted children. Under
this policy, efforts shall be made to test and care for gifted children,
creating outlets
and opportunities for them to develop their gifts in the
framework of general and special programmes; the State shall endeavour to
cater
for exceptionally gifted children with a view to developing and channelling
their gifts and creating opportunities to use them;
the competent authorities
shall design diagnostic tests, special study programmes and incentive schemes
for gifted children; and
scientific research shall be conducted to benefit from
the capacities of exceptionally gifted children, who shall also be provided
with
Islamic instruction.
- In
this connection, coordination has been intensified among educational
institutions that care for gifted children, and the Ministry
of Education and
King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology have stepped up their
cooperation on the implementation of the project
to test and care for gifted
children. The private sector has also made tremendous efforts to support the
welfare of gifted children.
E. National programme
- Computer
use has become a vital component of educational development and the linchpin of
national development. The Abdullah Bin Abdul
Aziz and his Sons’ School
Computing Project targets all phases of general education. Its objectives are
to develop students’
skills, provide them with an effective education that
is compatible with future needs, improve the capacity of teachers to use
information
in all educational activities, create an information environment
with scientific inputs suited to the needs of students and teachers,
and provide
sources of direct learning in order to pave the way for the development of an
advanced information technology industry
in the Kingdom and disseminate
information about technology among members of society.
- The
project’s aims are to:
- − Develop
the skills of students, using educational information technology to provide them
with a good grounding in accordance
with future needs;
- − Improve
the capacity of teachers to use information technology for all educational
activities;
- − Create
an information environment with a scientific content that meets the needs of
students and teachers and provides them
with sources of direct learning;
- − Improve
the educational process in order to produce a generation with a good grasp of
information technology;
- − Help to
create the nucleus of an advanced information technology industry in the
Kingdom;
- − Raise
general awareness of the importance of information technology in education and
disseminate knowledge about information
technology among society.
- The
following are some of the information technology services which the school
network project will provide:
- − The
establishment of electronic links between students, teachers, parents and school
managers;
- − The
creation of a distance-learning mechanism;
- − The
organization of online students’ seminars and conferences;
- − Remote
participation in scientific and cultural competitions;
- − Development
of students’ skills through their involvement in editing students’
magazines;
- − Dissemination
of general information for students by means of a
students’
directory;
- − Providing
students with creative opportunities by involving them in
student
positions;
- − Linking
Saudi students abroad to the network.
Academic curricula
- The
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia designs educational curricula that allow it to educate
and train Saudi students and prepare them to make
a positive contribution to
life.
- It
develops and updates educational curricula, taking into account the factors that
help to produce a qualitative shift in educational
content and using many
different kinds of teaching methods. Curriculum development programmes take
account of the rights set out
in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and
the Committee’s general comment No. 1 (2001) on the aims of
education.
- The
comprehensive curriculum development project is one of the most important
measures that have been taken in this field. Its objectives
are to completely
revamp educational curricula to keep pace with local and international
developments, serve the needs of individuals
and society, create an effective
tool for the integrated and effective realization of educational policy goals
and provide a powerful
impetus for the development of more advanced and
effective curricula to realize these ambitions. This project has gone through a
number of stages and will continue until the remaining stages (writing, piloting
and dissemination) have been completed. It also
aims at developing academic
plans for all stages of education to keep pace with changing realities and
modern developments, including
labour market demand and the needs of individuals
and society. The higher committee involved in the design of curricula and
programmes
has approved a new plan for the introduction into secondary education
of new subject areas such as vocational education, computer
applications and
information. A study on the extension of this approach to the intermediate
stage will be carried out with a view
to its development.
- The
project also develops strategies for continuous learning and education for life,
focusing on the demand for skills and desirable
behaviours, to be achieved
through:
- − Education
which teaches children how to learn so that they can teach themselves in
accordance with the principles of continuous
learning;
- − Education
through work, which is designed to consolidate skills and learned
behaviours;
- − Education
which prepares the learner for life as a positive and productive member of
society who achieves his own objectives
and those of society;
- − The
development of educational management techniques and revitalization of the role
of management in the educational process;
- − The
development of methods for testing and teaching gifted children;
- − The
conduct of studies and analyses of educational indicators and statistics and
their use in educational decision-making;
- − Strengthening
the capacity of children to communicate with other social groups, to engage in
dialogue, and to be tolerant
of others.
- Furthermore,
the comprehensive curriculum development project seeks to:
- − Apply
the concept of basic education by merging the primary and intermediate stages
into a single stage of education;
- − Apply
the concept of compulsory education in order to stop young people from dropping
out of school and eradicate illiteracy;
- − Apply
the concept of extramural education, using factories, museums and gardens to
make students aware of the environment,
develop their environmental knowledge,
and guide their behaviour;
- − Apply
and develop vocational education at all stages;
- − Develop
physical education curricula to include the study of the mechanical,
psychological and health aspects of the subject,
as well as the acquisition of
sporting skills;
- − Develop
art curricula, cultivate students’ aesthetic taste, and teach students how
to mix and match colours through
the study of artistic concepts;
- − Develop
civic education to teach students behaviours and practices that foster their
faith in God and religion, their loyalty
to the King and the nation, and their
pride in and willingness to defend the country and its assets;
- − Focus
on and improve the teaching of logic in order to facilitate the development of
systematic scientific thought;
- − Teach
the social skills required for communication with others and prepare students to
serve the society in which they grow
up.
F. Online education
- With
a view to using advanced information and communications technology for
educational purposes, the Ministry of Education has taken
steps to replace the
teacher-directed educational model which depends on books as the only source of
knowledge with a learneroriented
model that relies on a multiplicity of sources,
including information and communication technology and concepts of online
education
which are oriented towards change.
- The
purpose of online education is to:
- − To use
educational information technology to develop students’ skills and provide
children with a good grounding that
takes account of future needs;
- − Improve
the skills of teachers in using information technology for all educational
activities;
- − Create
an information environment with a scientific content that caters for the needs
of students and teachers and provides
them with sources of direct learning;
- − Improve
the educational process in order to produce a generation with a good grasp of
information technology;
- − Help to
lay the foundations for the development of an advanced information technology
industry in the Kingdom;
- − Raise
general awareness of the importance of information technology in education and
disseminate knowledge about information
technology among society;
- − Disseminate
knowledge about information technology among college
professors.
G. International cooperation on education
- Educational
institutions and their counterparts in fraternal and friendly States continue to
cooperate with one another on all educational
matters. For
example:
- − Delegations
from the ministries of education of a number of States exchange visits in order
to benefit from their respective
experiences in the sector;
- − The
Ministry participates in a number of bilateral committees in order to strengthen
cooperation with other States;
- − A
number of teachers have been sent to teach in fraternal and friendly States and
Saudi schools abroad;
- − Annual
study grants are awarded to students from friendly States;
- − The
Ministry participates in conferences, shows and cultural weeks in a number of
fraternal and friendly States.
H. Technical education and vocational training
- All
types of technical education and vocational training are regarded as vital to
the preparation, training and development of the
national workforce and the
improvement of its productivity. The importance of this sector is reflected in
the priorities set out
in the development plan, which aims at increasing the
capacity of technical education and vocational training institutions in order
to
provide the national economy with the quantity and quality of skills it
requires. It is also reflected in the financial allocations
earmarked for the
Public Institute for Technical Education and Vocational Training, amounting to
SR 6.1 billion under the sixth development
plan (A.H. 1415/1420 1995/2000).
- The
following table provides a statistical summary of the number of educational
units running pre-university programmes in the academic
year A.H. 1421/1422
(2000).
Programme type
|
Educational unit
|
No. of students
|
Industrial secondary colleges
|
10
|
11 006
|
Commercial secondary colleges
|
16
|
7 179
|
Agricultural secondary colleges
|
4
|
321
|
Secondary colleges for technical supervisors
|
5
|
2 693
|
Vocational training centres (morning courses)
|
30
|
10 436
|
Private vocational education and training
|
381
|
25 050
|
Total
|
446
|
32 635
|
- The
seventh development plan’s strategies for the technical education and
vocational training sector aim at achieving considerable
qualitative and
quantitative growth through the implementation of the following objectives,
policies and programmes:
Objectives:
− To help improve the efficiency and competence
of Saudi Arabia’s human resources in order to satisfy the needs of the
national economy;
− To improve the effectiveness and efficiency of training and develop
various training tools;
− To improve the quality of training programmes, focusing on modern and
advanced technologies;
− To improve and update academic curricula in response to labour market
demand;
− To expand technical education both horizontally and vertically in order
to achieve nationwide coverage;
− To ensure full coordination and cooperation between technical education
institutions and relevant training bodies.
Policies:
− To respond to labour market demand in light of
changing economic realities, to evaluate the skills of migrant workers and
to
make good use of training programmes based on an analysis of labour market
demand;
− To expand induction training programmes as an integral part of Saudi
Arabia’s strategy, designing intensive programmes
for that purpose and
involving the private sector in their planning and implementation;
− To improve training outputs and introduce a policy of selection based on
a system of advising, counselling and monitoring
students at all levels;
− To make better use of the resources offered by different training
facilities, using the time available to run short training
courses and courses
at different times of the day, introducing an industrial apprenticeship system,
expanding cooperative education
to cover all training programmes, and making the
most of the training opportunities provided by the governmental and private
sectors;
− To revitalize the social role of technical faculties through the
organization of courses, seminars and lectures geared towards
society’s
needs, the conduct of educational research and studies, and the delivery of
educational services;
− To make better use of the resources of specialized research centres in
order to carry out studies and research on the occupations
which the labour
market needs;
− To continuously improve the quality of training programmes and curricula
with an emphasis on practical application at all
levels and through the
involvement of the private sector.
Programmes:
- The
technical education and vocational training programmes provided for in the
seventh development plan are designed to develop and
improve the quality of
education and training. They accord special attention to managerial
development, community service, ongoing
training and the creation of adequate
infrastructure to increase capacity. They also aim at expanding studies and
research into
issues and problems in technical education and vocational
training. According to the statistical overview for A.H. 1423 (2002),
the
country has 68 vocational training centres and vocational secondary colleges for
girls, catering for a total of 5,480 students.
Vocational training
- The
Public Institute for Technical Education and Vocational Training manages
30 vocational training centres, one teacher training
centre and three
centres offering on-the-job training. Located in different parts of the
country, around 12,300 trainees were enrolled
in these centres in
A.H. 1419/1420 (1999), as compared with 40,000 trainees and 28,000
graduates for the whole period of the sixth
development plan.
- Some
108,200 trainers taught at other vocational colleges (induction training,
trainer training, private teaching and training institutes,
and vocational
training centres for persons with disabilities) during the sixth development
plan and 61,600 students graduated from
these colleges during the same
period.
I. Leisure, recreation and cultural activities (art.
31)
- Young
persons represent a social group that has special needs to which the family and
the State must both pay close attention. Since
most young persons normally have
long periods of leisure time, appropriate ways must be found of using this time
to benefit young
persons in particular and society in general.
- The
State offers all children without distinction a diverse range of free
recreational, cultural and social activities and programmes
adapted to their
age, intellectual development and wishes, in order to help them make the most of
their free time and talents.
- Appropriate
budgets are earmarked for school activity programmes, in which students are
encouraged to participate. Food, transport
and equipment are laid on for the
implementation of these programmes and trainers and supervisors are paid
stipends.
- The
State has built sports stadiums, scouting centres, students’ homes, youth
clubs, theatres, exhibition and festival halls,
laboratories, art studios and
workshops and picture galleries to ensure that these children’s activity
programmes are implemented
in suitable surroundings. The State furthermore
awards prizes and organizes competitions for different groups of children and
young
persons and encourages them to take part in the planning, implementation
and evaluation of these programmes and activities.
- Social
activities consist of day camps; student trips; Red Crescent, first-aid and
heritageconservation teams; social competitions;
summer camps; participation in
public awareness programmes such as Tree Week, Traffic Week, Mosque Week, World
Health Day, AntiDrugs
and Anti-Smoking Week and World Children’s Day;
summer activity centres; trips and exchange programmes; local school activity
centres; weekly activity classes for all school grades; the Children’s
Fair, etc. There are 384 such programmes.
- Within
sporting activities, children are allowed to participate in all national and
international individual and team sporting competitions
with a view to
developing their team spirit and sense of sportsmanship. School sports are
organized through a variety of programmes,
including weekly or bi-weekly
classes, morning exercise sessions, the Children’s Fair, sports days,
school sports championships,
sporting finals and the activities which the
General Presidency for Youth Welfare runs through sports clubs countrywide.
- Artistic
activities are designed to encourage children’s artistic, creative and
inventive skills in drawing, painting, decoration
and handicrafts; these
activities include the organization of art shows and competitions, the programme
of the Centre for Gifted
Artists, the Open Studio, the World in the Eyes of our
Children Competition, and international, Arab and Gulf drawing
competitions.
- Theatrical
activities are carried out in the framework of numerous programmes and include a
children’s playwriting competition;
participation by schoolchildren in
theatrical productions; the awarding of prizes for participants and outstanding
performers in
such plays; annual children’s theatre competitions (about 20
per year); the establishment of children’s theatre troupes,
of which there
are now 150; and the organization of theatrical activities during the summer
holidays.
- Cultural
activities consist of seminars and discussions between children, government
ministers and senior officials; public speaking
programmes; story and poetry
writing; and school journalism and broadcasting. Students also take part in the
activities organized
for them by the Saudi Society for Culture and the Arts,
literary clubs and the 153 sporting and cultural clubs countrywide which
run
cultural, leisure and sporting activities.
- The
General Presidency for Youth Welfare works through the General Department for
the Administration of Cultural Activities, the General
Department for Sports,
the Department of the Folk Heritage and Folk Arts, the Saudi Arabian Youth Club
Association and its own offices
in the regions and governorates to include in
its annual plan programmes and activities geared towards the welfare of
children, the
development of their cultural, social, sporting, artistic,
scientific and creative talents and the employment of their leisure time
in a
manner consistent with the goals of the State, its five-year development plans,
and our lofty Islamic principles and authentic
Arab traditions and customs. The
Presidency earmarks budgets for the implementation of diverse children’s
programmes and activities,
providing programme tools, building sports stadiums,
scouting centres, youth clubs, theatre, exhibition and festival halls,
laboratories,
art studios, workshops and picture galleries, awarding prizes, and
creating programmes and competitions suited to different groups
of children and
young persons. These programmes include:
- − The
organization, in sports clubs and youth clubs, of activities designed to
encourage individual hobbies and interests such
as electronics, geology,
photo-energy, astrology, etc.;
- − The
organization of local cultural exhibitions, including children’s drawing
and plastic arts’ exhibitions;
- − The
creation in clubs throughout the Kingdom of children’s leisure centres
running all kinds of cultural and leisure
activities;
- − The use
of public gardens equipped with all kinds of play areas to develop
children’s intellectual and physical capacities;
- − Cooperation
with private charities which run family and child programmes and festivals and
children’s toy libraries;
- − The
extension of these programmes to cover villages and hamlets, in accordance with
the same quantity and quality standards
applied in cities and towns, and the
establishment of leisure and cultural activities accessible to children with
disabilities;
- − The use
of private sector tourist complexes for children’s leisure programmes and
the use of computing and children’s
play centres to develop
children’s capacities.
- Scouting
activities consist of scouting camps and voluntary work camps set up to serve
pilgrims; participation in social development
programmes; the organization of
scouting camps to accustom children to living out of doors; participation in
development programmes
and evening entertainment; the organization of summer
camps, educational excursions and hiking trips; and the creation of youth clubs,
merit badge programmes and handicraft schemes.
- Scientific
activities include the organization of science club competitions to encourage
children to take an interest in science,
science laboratories, geology, biology,
physics and computing and involve them in children’s scientific
research.
- Field
trips are organized to museums in various towns in order to teach children about
their heritage and history and introduce them
to world civilizations.
- The
State encourages the private sector and governmental institutions to establish
children’s science clubs and centres in order
to stimulate
children’s interest in science and technology. Physics, chemistry and
computer science competitions offer opportunities
to develop and showcase the
scientific abilities and talents of children and young persons.
- Among
these centres are the Science Oasis in Riyadh and the Science and Technology
Centre in Jeddah, which specialize in the development
of children’s
perceptive and mechanical skills, computer use and applied physics, chemistry
and mathematics. Club members
have also undertaken foreign trips, including
visits to space centres in the United States of America.
- Hobby
centres have been set up in youth clubs in Saudi Arabia to allow children to
pursue hobbies such as electronics, geology, photography,
astronomy, etc.
- Children’s
leisure centres are overseen by the General Presidency of Youth Welfare and
offer a range of cultural, recreational,
sporting, artistic and creative
activities. The General Presidency of Youth Welfare encourages the
establishment of children’s
leisure centres throughout the country within
the framework of its sports and leisure club programmes.
- Children
are also involved in a range of children’s media activities, including the
presentation of television and radio programmes
and the production of numerous
cultural and social magazines which discuss and focus on resolving their
problems. These activities
aim at satisfying children by responding to their
desires, catering for their interests, and enabling them to exercise their
rights
fairly and equitably.
- There
is a programme of cooperation with other Arab and friendly countries which
organizes children’s activities at the Gulf
Cooperation Council, Arab and
international levels, providing for exchange visits, youth camps, meetings
between school scouts’
leaders and teachers, and children’s drawing,
sports, cultural and science competitions.
Evolution of State budget allocations for public
education
(A.H. 1412/1413-1423/1421 (1991/2003))
|
Millions of SRIs
|
Change 1405/1406 = 100
|
1412/1413
|
29 594.0
|
128.5
|
1413/1414
|
30 342.4
|
131.7
|
1414/1415
|
27 822.4
|
120.8
|
1415/1416
|
25 623.9
|
111.3
|
1416/1417
|
27 536.2
|
119.6
|
1417/1418
|
40 067.9
|
174
|
1423/1424
|
45 785 960
|
|
VIII. SPECIAL PROTECTION MEASURES
A. Children in situations of emergency
- The
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia opposes the displacement of children due to wars. It
works for peace among all peoples and solidarity
and cooperation between Arab
and Islamic States and endeavours to strengthen its ties with friendly States
throughout the world.
It guarantees the rights of its citizens and their
families in situations of emergency and ensures the security of all citizens
and
foreign residents in its territory.
- The
Kingdom takes in children from other parts of the world who have been forced to
leave their countries because of war, offering
them comprehensive health, social
and educational care and every facility and necessity, including schools and
educational, health
and social institutions. Until they return to their
country, these children are treated like nationals of the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia.
There is no discrimination against them.
- The
Kingdom also helps to alleviate the plight of peoples affected by wars and
natural disasters by offering them medical, material
and financial
assistance.
B. Children in armed conflicts (art. 38)
- The
laws in force in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia provide for the protection of
women and children in situations of emergency, prohibiting
the shelling and
bombardment of civilian populations in order to save lives, and outlawing
the deployment of chemical and bacteriological
weapons during military
operations in accordance with the 1925 Geneva Protocol and the 1949 Geneva
Conventions. The State condemns
all forms of oppression and cruel and
inhuman treatment of children and women. It guarantees the rights of
citizens and their families in the event of an emergency, sickness,
disability
or old age and prohibits the enlistment of any young person under the age of 18
in the armed forces.
C. Children in conflict with the law
- Article
2 of the Code of Criminal Procedures promulgated in Royal Decree No. M/39
of 28/7 A.H. 1422 (4 October 2001) prohibits the
infliction of physical or
mental pain and the use of torture or degrading treatment against any child who
has been arrested. Article
13 of the Code states that young boys and girls must
be examined and tried in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations.
These laws define the relevant procedures as follows:
- − Minors
below the age of 10 may not be detained under any circumstances, in order to
protect them from the psychological effects
that might otherwise arise from
their detention, unless a judge issues a detention order in the child’s
best interest;
- − Minors
below the age of 15 may not be detained other than in situations of force
majeure or by order of a court;
- − Minors
aged 15 and over may be detained for serious offences such as murder, robbery
and immoral acts, provided that they
are referred to the courts;
- − Minors
may not be detained other than pursuant to a juvenile court order. If the court
rejects an application for a detention
order, the child may be handed over to
the legal guardian, who must give an undertaking to supervise the child and
present him or
her upon demand.
D. The administration of juvenile justice (art. 40)
- The
Ministry of Justice of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has set up a special court,
known as the juvenile court, to hear children’s
cases. The court holds
its sessions in children’s reform homes in order to enable the judge to
consult and listen to the views
of social workers on the matters before him and
out of a desire to protect children from the atmosphere of a trial and the sense
of fear prevailing in ordinary courts, and from developing psychological
complexes that could affect their thinking and behaviour.
- The
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia acceded to the Convention against Torture and
Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
pursuant to
Decree M/11 of 4/4 A.H. 1418 (7 August 1997).
E. Physical and psychological recovery and social
reintegration (art. 39)
- The
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia organizes numerous humanitarian and healthcare
activities and programmes and the State forms partnerships
with many charitable
associations and institutions to offer young persons, disabled children and
families a full package of social
care within the framework of reintegration
programmes which the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs oversees in
collaboration with
charities and governmental bodies, including,
inter alia,
the General Presidency of Youth Welfare, the Ministry of Education,
universities, and the General Anti-Drugs’ Department. The
State has
established a Social Security Department with its own structure and budget.
- Supervision
centres provide medical treatment or psychological and social rehabilitation
services for children who have been subjected
to any form of cruel or inhuman
treatment.
F. Economic exploitation, including child labour (art.
32)
- The
Labour Code promulgated in Royal Decree No. M/21 of 6/9 A.H. 1389
(16 November 1969) prohibits the employment of children under
the age of 13
and protects them from exploitation in work that is hazardous or harmful to
their health. Children are only allowed
to work for six hours per day, which
must be interspersed with rest breaks. Children are not allowed to work for
more than five
hours consecutively or at night or in heavy or hazardous work.
Children’s work is optional, not compulsory, and it must not
interfere
with their studies or damage their health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral
or social development. The Labour Code
prescribes penalties for the employment
of a child below the age of 13. The Kingdom’s Labour Code is consistent
with ILO Convention
No. 138 concerning the minimum age for admission to
employment and the completion of education at the age of 18. The Civil Service
Regulations likewise specify a minimum age (18 years) for admission to
employment.
G. Illicit use of narcotic drugs (art. 33)
- The
State has enacted legislation to combat trafficking in, and the illicit use and
production of, narcotic drugs and psychotropic
substances. The maximum penalty
imposed on everyone who trafficks in and smuggles narcotic drugs, except
children, is capital punishment.
There are also penalties for possessing,
buying, producing or processing narcotic drugs or substances for personal use or
with a
view to trafficking therein.
- The
State is exerting considerable endeavours to tackle the problem of narcotic
drugs and has acceded to several international conventions,
including the Arab
Anti-Drugs Convention. The State provides addicts with all kinds of treatment
and rehabilitation, and uses all
the information media to disseminate advice and
general information about the dangers of narcotic drugs and methods of
prevention
and treatment. The State has set up a number of prevention and
awareness programmes and encourages individuals to contact the police
and ask
for help or treatment, exempting those that do from punishment and providing
them with all forms of treatment and rehabilitation
to facilitate their return
to normal life.
H. Children and sexual exploitation and sexual abuse (art.
34)
- The
State prohibits all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children
and inflicts appropriate penalties, in accordance
with Islamic law, on anyone
who engages in these practices. It provides children with care, guidance and
Islamic enlightenment through
schools, the mass media, educational activities,
clubs, associations, etc., and encourages righteous behaviour.
I. Sale, trafficking, abduction and other forms
of
exploitation (arts. 34 to 36)
- The
law prohibits the sale and trafficking of children and takes appropriate
measures to protect children from all other forms of
exploitation, abduction and
abuse. Anyone who abducts, traffics or exploits a child will be prosecuted
under the Criminal Code,
which is consistent with Islamic law. Islam prohibits
injustice, murder, prostitution, coercion to engage in debauchery, and all
forms
of depravity, and indicates how the perpetrators of such offences should be
dealt with. It shows how minors should be guided
and protected, guarantees
their welfare and rights, punishes anyone who harms a child, encourages people
to love, care for, respect
and bring children up well, accords them their rights
without humiliating or harming them.
- Schools,
hospitals, universities, kindergartens and social welfare homes help to remedy
and address such problems. Moreover, laws
have been enacted, rights are
guaranteed, and support is given to all international efforts, to preserve human
dignity, ensure justice
and equality and prohibit inhuman practices.
J. Children belonging to a minority or an indigenous group
(art. 30)
- There
are no minorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, since the Kingdom is a
homogeneous society bound together by a common culture,
religion and culture and
foreign residents are entitled to the same welfare and protection as the Kingdom
grants to Saudi citizens.
Foreign children have the same rights and duties as
Saudi children.
Annex
LIST OF REFERENCES
− The Holy Koran
− The Sunnah of the Prophet
− The Basic Law
− The Judicial Code of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
− The Code of Criminal Procedures of A.H. 1422 (2001)
− The Code of Shariah Procedures of A.H. 1421 (2000)
− The Lawyers’ Code of A.H. 1422 (2002)
− Reports of government and private organizations
− The seventh development plan for A.H. 1420-1425 (2000-2004)
− The Saudi Arabian Nationality and Civil Status Act
− The Labour Code
− The Kingdom’s educational policy
− The Kingdom’s media policy
− The statistical yearbook issued by the Ministry of Planning and the
Department of Statistics, issue No. 37, A.H. 1421-1422
(2001)
− Statistical indicators provided by the Ministry of Planning and the
Department of Statistics for A.H. 1420-1422 (2001)
− The statistical yearbook issued by the Ministry of Health for A.H.
1420-1421 (2001)
− The statistical digest issued by the Ministry of Education for A.H.
1422-1423 (20012002).
-----
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