The Human Rights Commission (HRC) and a team from the Ministry of Social Affairs in Makkah are engaged in attempts to defuse a crisis involving orphans under the supervision of Al-Bir Society in Jeddah. The orphans are accusing officials of the society of administrative and educational irregularities. They also claim that a number of orphans at the Al-Bir home have stopped their studies for more than one month. The commission and ministry delegation visited the orphanage at the end of last week to probe the complaints made by some orphans and also to hear the testimony of orphanage officials. Accordingly, they submitted a report to the responsible authorities. The HRC branch in Makkah received a complaint submitted by 12 orphans at the Al-Bir facility who are over 18 years old. In their complaint, they accused one of the officials at the society of blackmailing them by stopping their monthly stipends as well as making “unfair and unacceptable” remarks against them. Moreover, the orphans accused the official of changing the bylaws defining the work in the orphanage without any consideration for their circumstances and interests. According to sources, the underlying cause of the problem is that the previous director of the orphanage, who was in the job for almost a decade, was relieved of his post, creating an emotional vacuum for the orphans because of their close attachment to him. It is reported that the orphans protested to Al-Bir officials against the removal of the director, and that they also registered their objection with the police in downtown Jeddah. It was also reported that the director was removed because of accusations leveled against him by Al-Bir Society and that he was also reported to the police, but was immediately released due to strong protest from the orphans.
