Shareef, Supervisor of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) in Makkah, has said cases of family violence in the region, especially in Taif, are increasing. Al-Shareef said the branch had received and is following up several cases of family violence. He urged the concerned authorities to come up with a law considering violence against the family and children as a crime punishable by law. He said the NSHR has signed a cooperation agreement with the Family Safety Program at the National Guard to work together to eliminate family violence from society. He said NSHR teams are planning surprise visits to government and security sectors in the region to look into any complaints of human rights violations. Al-Shareef said the NSHR's Makkah branch will hold a meeting next month to determine the areas where they are going to make these surprise visits with the aim of surveying both the positive and negative aspects and reporting them to the presidency of the society. He said the society will also be organizing a lecture entitled “Human rights – a reality or heresy” at the Faculty of Economics in King Abdul Aziz University besides launching a campaign focusing on human rights in general and children's rights in particular in different malls in the holy city of Makkah and Jeddah.
