New laws relating to many legal issues of women's and children's rights will be prepared and developed soon in the Kingdom, said Bandr Al-Hajjar, Deputy Chairman of the Shoura Council. The new package of laws aims to boost women's rights and curb domestic violence amid an ever-increasing number of domestic violations against women. The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) has resolved over 60 percent of the cases it has received. Some cases, however, are far from being resolved, such as, those dealing with Saudis living abroad. In the case of Saudi citizen Abdulrahman Al-Attawi, who is still detained at an Israeli prison, the society has hired a lawyer to represent him, said Mifleh Al-Qahtani, chairman of the NSHR. “However, unfortunately, the lawyer has kept the case for himself and has stopped updating the society on it,” he said. The case file is still open with the society, but “Israeli is keeping the prisoner for political reasons,” he said. The NSHR chairman listened Wednesday to the case of a woman who has been trying for four years to divorce her husband.The husband refused to attend the court hearings to finalize the divorce paperwork and stopped paying for his children who are staying with their mother. Last week, the society, in the second report since its founding in 2004, called for changing laws that discriminate against women and providing them with more opportunities in the workplace. The report said that the major obstacles against women working in certain professions, such as, law, are a result of traditions rather than existing laws. The report also urged an end to the marriage of underage girls. On the voting rights of women, the report said that while women have been allowed to run for office and vote in chamber of commerce elections, their participation in municipal elections is “unclear.” A law should be issued to “guarantee equality and a lack of discrimination between men and women in this respect.” The report also listed some aspects of the court system which make litigation difficult for women.
