publications

VI. Children in Ministry of Social Affairs Detention Centers

Saudi Arabia routinely detains children under investigation, awaiting trial, or convicted of minor offenses. According to government statistics, the majority of children serving sentences or detained pending investigation or trial are held in Ministry of Social Affairs social observation homes or girls’ or young women’s welfare institutions (see above). Although government officials resist referring to the Ministry of Social Affairs facilities as detention centers,104 they are closed facilities where exit and entry is controlled by Ministry of Interior guards.105

Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Saudi Arabia is obliged to ensure that “[t]he arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child … be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.”106 The convention also calls on states to make available alternatives to institutional care for children who are accused of or recognized as have committed criminal offenses “to ensure that children are dealt with in a manner appropriate to their well-being and proportionate both to their circumstances and the offense,” and specifies that in all actions concerning children the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.107

Detention during Investigation, Pending Trial, and for Minor Offenses

Saudi Arabian officials acknowledge that a significant number of children and young women detained in Ministry of Social Affairs facilities have not been convicted but are held for investigation or pending trial. Many of these are accused of committing only minor offenses. Even more disturbing, the authorities have detained many of these children and young women for what they deem to be improper contact between the sexes. This offense, referred to as ”seclusion” (khalwa) or “mingling” (ikhtilat), does not appear to be clearly defined in any written law.

Human Rights Watch visited the Riyadh Social Observation Home and the Riyadh Girls’ and Young Women’s Welfare Institution in December 2006. Ministry of Social Affairs officials prevented Human Rights Watch from speaking with detainees, but directors of both facilities told us that detention pending investigation or trial and for minor offenses is common at both facilities. The director of the Riyadh Social Observation Home told Human Rights Watch that the majority of the 274 detainees at the home on the day of our visit had not been convicted of any offense.108 According to the director of the Riyadh Girls’ and Young Women’s Welfare Institution, very few of the girls and women at that facility have been accused of serious criminal offenses.109 Ministry of Social Affairs statistics for the Riyadh Social Observation Home in 2003 show hundreds of children detained for “Family break-up,” “Morals,” “Traffic offenses,” and “Drug addiction and trafficking.”110 During questioning by the Committee on the Rights of the Child in January 2006, members of the Saudi Arabian delegation insisted that “[t]he prosecution could not ask the court to place a child in a centre unless the offence was serious,” but later stated that children “with drug problems” could be detained, “not as a punishment but to rehabilitate them.”111 The practice of detaining children in need of protection in closed facilities with criminal detainees is a particularly egregious violation of the principle that children deprived of their liberty should be classified and separated according to their particular needs and protected from harmful influences (see below).

Detention for “seclusion” or “mingling”

Human Rights Watch has not been able to identify in Saudi Arabian law evidentiary standards for proving seclusion (khalwa) or mingling (ikhtilat), or recommended sentences for persons convicted of these offenses. Knowledgeable individuals told Human Rights Watch that in practice evidentiary standards “vary from place to place, depending on [local] culture.”112 A senior counselor to the Ministry of Justice defined seclusion as “being out of sight in a closed place with only a member of the opposite sex who is not mahram [forbidden from marrying under Sharia] to you.” However, he declined to clarify whether being in a car or a cafe with a member of the opposite sex—the circumstances of two recent arrests—met this test.113 The president of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, which participates in many arrests on these charges, declined to provide us detailed definitions of the offenses, saying simply, “Mingling of the sexes is prohibited in public, and permitted in private unless it is for the purpose of corruption.”114 In addition to imprisonment, judges also issue sentences of flogging for seclusion or mingling, as in the case of a rape victim in Qatif, who was sentenced to 90 lashes for mingling in October 2006.115 (This case acquired international notoriety in November 2007 when a court increased the woman’s sentence to 200 lashes and six months’ imprisonment. The case is discussed in more detail in Human Rights Watch’s March 2008 report, “Saudi Arabia: Precarious Justice: Arbitrary Detention and Unfair Trials in a Deficient Criminal Justice System.”)

While Saudi Arabian authorities arrest both males and females for seclusion, anecdotal evidence suggests that these ill-defined offenses make women and girls vulnerable to detention and flogging for behavior that in many instances would not be punished by detention if committed by a male.116 For example, a Ministry of Social Affairs supervisor described seclusion and mingling as a girl or woman being “in an apartment by herself, or with a group of others, or sitting in a place where it is not natural for her to be,” and said the majority of detainees at the Riyadh Girls’ and Young Women’s Welfare Institution were under investigation or had been sentenced for seclusion.117 In other cities girls and young women have been charged with seclusion or mingling for running away from home. A November 2006 Arab News article quoted an unnamed Mekkah Girls’ and Young Women’s Welfare Institution official saying that existing welfare institutions were insufficient to hold a rising number of runaways. The official noted that “Most of the cases [at the Mekkah Girls’ and Young Women’s Welfare Institution] are of runaway or ‘absent’ girls arrested by the virtue commission or the police.”118

The prominent role of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in investigating and participating in arrests for such an ill-defined offense is particularly disturbing given that body’s record of human rights abuses, including its well-known harassment of women and girls. Saudi Arabia’s National Society for Human Rights recently criticized the CPVPV for abusing its authority, noting that the Society had received complaints of beating and other physical violence during arrest and interrogation, verbal abuse, coerced confessions, and violations of privacy during searches by commission members.119

The offenses of seclusion and mingling, as described by government officials, and the lack of procedural clarity associated with them, place girls and young women at particular risk of the arbitrary deprivation of their liberty, corporal punishment, as well as violations of their rights to freedom of movement,120 association,121 and privacy.122  They also contravene Saudi Arabia’s obligation under CEDAW to “modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women.”123 

Human Rights Watch is also concerned that the offenses of seclusion and mingling may be obstacles to girls and young women reporting sexual violence or leaving situations of domestic violence because they can be arrested for living alone or with others without their guardian’s permission, or for being in the company of unrelated men or boys. 124 In both cases, the arrest may place women and girls at increased risk of violence if authorities return them to guardians who see the charge as further proof of immorality, to be addressed through beatings, confinement, or forced marriage. A Ministry of Social Affairs supervisor told Human Rights Watch that the Riyadh Girls’ and Young Women’s Welfare Institution did have detainees who were victims of domestic violence, but argued that it was “rarely the main problem,” saying that in most cases it involved “violence from the father because [the detainee] had been away from home for a period of time.”125 The Convention on the Rights of the Child requires states to protect children from all forms of physical and mental violence, and to provide special protection and assistance to children when it is not in their best interests to remain in a family environment.126

Indefinite detention for “guidance”

Saudi Arabian law gives the Ministry of Social Affairs broad powers to continue to detain children and young women even after they are found innocent or have served their sentences. Ministry of Social Affairs regulations further discriminate against girls and young women by authorizing the minister of social affairs to order a girl or young woman to be detained indefinitely based solely on the assessment of her guardian and institution staff that she “remains in need of additional guidance and care.”127

Ministry of Social Affairs regulations also allow authorities to continue to detain boys beyond the period specified in a sentence “if it is apparent to the home that the juvenile’s circumstances … do not permit his release because, in the view of the specialists, of his need for greater care.”128 But while the regulation governing boys requires a judge to agree to continued detention, no judicial approval is required to extend the detention of girls and young women under age 30. Neither regulation requires periodic review of the detention decision, nor sets an explicit limit on how long detainees can be held. Boys held for “guidance” should be eligible for release when they turn 18 and no longer require a guardian, but under Saudi law women are treated like legal minors and can only be released into the care of their guardians (see below).

Such regulations give arbitrary and discriminatory powers to guardians and officials to intervene in the lives of children and young women who do not comply with the wishes of their guardians or Ministry of Social Affairs staff. Their impact is heightened by Saudi Arabia’s failure to guarantee free legal assistance to detained children and young women who need it, making it virtually impossible for them to challenge their detention (see below). Regulations for girls and young women that deny them opportunities for judicial review of detention granted to boys also contravene Saudi Arabia’s obligation to prohibit gender-based discrimination and ensure women and girls equality with men and boys before the law.129

Delays in Release due to Guardians’ Refusal to Receive Detainees

Saudi Arabian law requires that social observation homes and girls’ and young women’s welfare institutions only release detainees into the custody of their legal guardians. At the same time, discriminatory regulations and practices prevent adult women from having guardianship over themselves or their children except in the most exceptional circumstances.130 As a result, children and young women can be detained even after a judge or prosecutor orders their release, simply because their male legal guardian is unavailable or refuses to claim them. Unlike Ministry of Social Affairs regulations for boys’ detention centers, regulations for girls’ and young women’s detention centers allow for indefinite detention in these circumstances. In a conservative society where the stigma of a girl’s or woman’s arrest on a morality-related offense affects the entire family, girls and young women accused of seclusion or mingling face a disproportionate risk of prolonged and indefinite detention.

Ministry of Social Affairs regulations governing girls’ and young women’s welfare institutions state that “in all cases the institution shall observe the obligation to summon the guardians of girls and young women to receive them at the times specified for their release from the institution. In cases where the guardian is late in doing so, the institution must quickly take the necessary steps for procuring the guardian to receive the girl or young woman.”131 Ministry of Social Affairs officials gave Human Rights Watch conflicting information on what these steps should be. According to one official, the ministry frequently receives offers of marriage to girls in its custody, and when a girl’s or young woman’s family refuses to accept her the ministry asks a judge to marry her to one of these men; if she refuses the marriage offer, the ministry transfers her to the care of a nongovernmental organization.132 Another official, who supervises the Riyadh Girls’ and Young Women’s Welfare Institution, said staff there seek to address the problem of absent or refusing guardians by trying to convince other family members to intervene or, should that fail, by petitioning the regional governor to transfer guardianship to another relative.133 However, Saudi Arabian experts on domestic violence, who also sometimes appeal to the governor to intervene in individual guardianship cases, say that the process is difficult and outcomes vary greatly even among similar cases.134 The Ministry of Social Affairs does not appear to offer any alternative, age-appropriate options such as non-punitive and voluntary shelters or independent living arrangements for children and young women without guardians available or willing to receive them.135

Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor regulations for social observation homes for boys echo the language of the ministry’s regulations for girls’ and young women’s welfare institutions on steps the staff must take to ensure that detainees are received by their guardians, with the exception that they also allow staff at a social observation home to deliver a boy to his guardian even if the guardian does not come to claim him.136 The regulations do not specify what, if any, measures the social observation home must take to ensure that boys detained in social observation homes are not held indefinitely or returned to guardians who reject them or who otherwise put them at risk of abuse or neglect. The Ministry of Social Affairs did not respond to Human Rights Watch’s request for clarification on this matter.137

Other Obstacles to Challenging Deprivation of Liberty   

Saudi Arabia’s Law on Criminal Procedure allows Ministry of Interior Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecutions officials to detain suspects under investigation for up to six months without judicial review (see above). Delays can continue even after the decision is made to refer the case to a judge.  Saudi Arabian law specifies that interrogations and trials of children and of women under age 30 should take place inside social observation homes and girls’ and young women’s welfare institutions.

Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, all children deprived of their liberty have the right to challenge the legality of their detention and to obtain a prompt decision on that challenge, and children accused of criminal offenses have the right to a fair hearing without delay.138 The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has stated that enjoyment of the right to challenge the legality of deprivation of liberty requires that children “be brought before a competent authority … within 24 hours” of arrest, and “a decision must be rendered as soon as possible, e.g. within or not later than two weeks after the challenge is made.”139

Shaikh Muhammad Al `Abdullah, head of the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecutions, told Human Rights Watch that when his investigators interrogate suspects who refuse to answer their questions, “we tell them that silence will make the investigation take longer.”140 At a minimum, such an implied threat of prolonged detention—like false promises of early release if the detainee confesses—are inappropriate for adults, and may in some circumstances constitute coercion. When used against children, these tactics may constitute a violation of children’s right not to be compelled to give testimony or confess guilt.141 In interpreting this right, the Committee on the Rights of the Child has noted,

The term “compelled” should be interpreted in a broad manner and not be limited to physical force or other clear violations of human rights. The age of the child, the child’s development, the length of the interrogation, the child’s lack of understanding, the fear of unknown consequences or of a suggested possibility of imprisonment, may lead him/her to a confession that is not true. That may become even more likely if rewards are promised such as: “You can go home as soon as you have given us the true story,” or lighter sanctions or release are promised.142

If a prosecutor does decide to refer a child or young woman to a judge for trial, he or she may have to wait several more days to see the judge (trial proceedings inside social observation homes and girls’ and young women’s welfare institutions are explained in Chapter VIII, below). Girls and young women are at an additional disadvantage because, with fewer institutions for them, they are likely to be detained at greater distance from their families than boys and men, making it more difficult for them to obtain legal and other assistance when seeking to challenge deprivation of liberty and to prepare and present a legal defense during interrogation and trial. Also, judges visit girl’s and young women’s institutions less frequently than boys’ institutions. Thus, girls and young women held at the Riyadh Girls’ and Young Women’s Welfare Institution may be detained for up to a week before seeing a judge because a judge only visits that facility one day a week.143 At that point the judge may then decide to postpone hearing the case “if he decides that he wants to see the family.”144 Boys may have to wait for up to five days before seeing the judge who visits the Riyadh Social Observation Home on two consecutive days per week.145

Mixing Children of Different Ages and Conviction Statuses

Ministry of Social Affairs detention centers fail to adequately classify and separate children in their custody. Ministry of Social Affairs authorities state that they separate detainees of different ages to protect them from harming each other. While age is an important consideration in categorizing and separating detained children, age alone is an inadequate criterion for insuring that children are safe from harm and their individual needs are met.146 The UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty provide authoritative guidance on the minimum factors to be taken into account when determining detained children’s needs. In particular, the Rules specify, “Juveniles who are detained under arrest or awaiting trial … should be separated from convicted juveniles,” and

The detention of juveniles should only take place under conditions that take full account of their particular needs, status and special requirements according to their age, personality, sex and type of offense, as well as mental and physical health, and which ensure their protection from harmful influences and risk situations. The principal criterion for the separation of different categories of juveniles deprived of their liberty should be the provision of the type of care best suited to the particular needs of the individuals concerned and the protection of their physical, mental and moral integrity and well-being. 147

Both the Riyadh Social Observation Home and the Riyadh Girls’ and Young Women’s Welfare Institution make some effort to categorize and separate detainees. However, the measures described by Ministry of Social Affairs staff are insufficient to protect children from risk of abuse by other detainees and exposure to harmful influences, and may leave children vulnerable to sexual abuse.148

According to the director of the Riyadh Social Observation Home, staff separates the boys and young men held there into four groups based on their ages, although the facility appears to have unused dormitories that it could use to further categorize children. 149 In addition to mixing convicted boys and young men with boys on remand, and boys held for serious offenses with those held for minor offenses, children of all ages appear to sometimes mix during recreational periods.150 The director told Human Rights Watch that the largest dormitory at the Riyadh Social Observation Home, with approximately 90 single beds lined up in rows 15 beds long, housed 17- and 18-year-old detainees.151 A room for 15- and 16-year-olds held approximately 78 beds, a room for 13- and 14-year-olds held approximately 31 beds, and a room for “younger boys” held 11 beds. According to the director, only one supervisor monitors each of the four open dormitories where the detainees sleep, and that supervisor is positioned outside the room, watching from behind a window. Effective monitoring would appear to be particularly difficult in the largest dormitory, where the bathrooms and the farthest beds were at least 15 meters from the supervisor’s station. Such arrangements are contrary to the UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty, which state, “Sleeping accommodation should normally consist of small group dormitories or individual bedrooms …. During sleeping hours there should be regular, unobtrusive supervision of all sleeping areas, including individual rooms and group dormitories, in order to ensure the protection of each juvenile.”152

Saudi Arabian law requires girls and young women’s welfare institutions to accept all Saudi Arabian girls or young women under age 30 ordered held or imprisoned, and to separate those held under investigation or pending trial from convicted prisoners.153 In apparent contradiction, a more recent Ministry of Social Affairs publication states that girls’ and young women’s welfare institutions separate detainees into “1) a section for young girls under age 15; 2) a section for young women between 18 and 28; 3) a section for young women over 18 with prior arrests; [and] 4) a solitary confinement section where girls and young women are placed during investigation.”154 These arrangements do not appear to provide the necessary flexibility for the adequate separation of girls and young women according to their conviction status, and they do not provide guidance at all for the care of girls age 15 through 17.155

During Human Rights Watch’s December 2006 visit to the Riyadh Girls’ and Young Women’s Welfare Institution, staff there showed us four wards that served as dormitories and also recreational spaces for when detainees were not involved in activities in other parts of the facility. Each ward consisted of a toilet and shower area and eight small bedrooms holding two to four beds, all opening off a central corridor. According to a Ministry of Social Affairs supervisor, the staff assigns detainees to wards according to “their age, ideas, type of case, and their disposition, taking all factors into account.”156 When questioned about how this works in practice, the director acknowledged that with only four wards it was impossible to adequately segregate the girls and young women by age, conviction status, and charge. She also told Human Rights Watch that while building renovations taking place at the time of our visit would not address these concerns, she had asked the Ministry of Social Affairs to ensure that any new detention facilities be designed to allow appropriate separation of detainees.157




104 For example, during the Committee on the Rights of the Child’s January 2006 review of Saudi Arabia, members of the government delegation stated, “Reform homes were not places of detention; rather they offered rehabilitative care with a view to ensuring children’s social reintegration,” and “When children were arrested, they were not placed in detention centres but were sent to rehabilitation centres, where their cases were examined by special investigators.” Committee on the Rights of the Child, “Summary Record of the 1114th Meeting (Chamber A),” paras. 9, 63.

105 For example, the Riyadh Social Observation Home is guarded by 45 Ministry of Interior staff. Human Rights Watch interview with `Ali bin Hassan al-`Ajami, December 2, 2006.

106 Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 37(b).

107 Ibid., arts. 40(4) and 3(1).

108 Human Rights Watch interview with `Ali bin Hassan al-`Ajami, December 2, 2006.

109 This assessment was echoed by Salwa Abu Nayan, supervisor for girls’ and young women’s welfare in the Ministry of Social Affairs’ Riyadh Office for Women’s Social Supervision. Human Rights Watch interview with Leila al-Daghathir, director of the Riyadh Girls’ and Young Women’s Welfare Institution, and Salwa Abu Nayan, Riyadh, December 3, 2006.

110 See “List of detention facilities for persons under eighteen who have committed punishable offences, showing the number of detainees and the type of offence committed, in 2003,” Government of Saudi Arabia, “Written reply concerning the list of issues relating to the second periodic report of Saudi Arabia to the Committee on the Rights of the Child,” p. 19.

111 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, “Summary Record of the 1114th Meeting (Chamber A),” paras. 66, 67.

112 Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Zuhair Fahed al-Harthi, former prosecutor and current Human Rights Commission board member, and Dr. Eisa AbdulAzize al-Shamekh, Human Rights Commission board member, Riyadh, March 9, 2008.

113  Human Rights Watch interview with Shaikh `Abd al-Hamid al-Guliga, March 12, 2008.

114 Human Rights Watch interview with Shaikh Ibrahim al-Gheith, December 5, 2006. According to a Ministry of Social Affairs supervisor, many of the women and girls held for seclusion at the Riyadh Girl’s and Young Women’s Welfare Institution had been transferred from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. Human Rights Watch interview with Leila al-Daghathir and Salwa Abu Nayan, December 3, 2006.

115 In October 2006 a judge sentenced a young woman from Qatif to 90 lashes for illegally mingling with the opposite sex. The young woman told Human Rights Watch that she had met a man she vaguely knew in his car in a car park to retrieve a photograph of herself. She had recently married and did not want another man to have her picture. A gang of men then attacked them both and brought her to another location where they raped her. Up to the point of the judge’s verdict, she was unaware of facing any charges herself, although the judges had questioned why she had left the house at all in the first place. Human Rights Watch interview with the young woman from Qatif, Khobar, December 8, 2006.

116 Human Rights Watch was unable to obtain data that would show whether one gender is more likely to be arrested on seclusion or mingling charges. Boys and men have greater freedom of movement in Saudi Arabia’s gender-segregated society, which could result in greater exposure to law enforcement agencies, including the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. Women and girls face greater restrictions on movement and dress, which in turn make them more visible when they do leave the confines of their homes. In addition, based on our interviews with directors of the Riyadh Social Observation Home and the Riyadh Girls’ and Young Women’s Welfare Institution, girls and young women detained in Riyadh are more likely than boys to be held on this charge. Human Rights Watch interview with Leila al-Daghathir and Salwa Abu Nayan, December 3, 2006; Human Rights Watch interview with `Ali bin Hassan al-`Ajami, December 2, 2006.

117 Human Rights Watch interview with Leila al-Daghathir and Salwa Abu Nayan, December 3, 2006.

118 Maha Akeel, “Runaway Girls on the Rise, Insufficient Facilities to Hold Them,” Arab News, November 16, 2006, http://arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=88900&d=16&m=11&y=2006 (accessed November 21, 2006).

119 For a discussion of the Commission’s powers and complaints about abuses, see National Society for Human Rights, “The First Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 1427/2006” (Al-taqrir al-awwal `an ahwal huquq al-insan fi al-mamlaka al-`arabiyya al-sa`udiyya, 1427h/2006m, al-jam`iyya al-wataniyya lihuquq al-insan), p. 14.

120 The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women obliges states to “accord to men and women the same rights with regard to the law relating to the movement of persons and the freedom to choose their residence and domicile.” Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against  Women, art. 15(4).

121 Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 15(1) .

122 Ibid., art. 16(1) .

123 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, art. 5(a).

124 Domestic violence is just beginning to be recognized as a serious problem in Saudi Arabia. Experts working with victims of domestic violence told Human Rights Watch that few cases come to light unless the abuse is so severe that it results in hospitalization or death, and that even in severe cases it is difficult to convince judges to remove the victim from an abusive guardian’s custody. The Makkah Branch of the National Society for Human Rights reports that 40 percent of the 2000 “family” cases it has investigated were domestic violence complaints. Human Rights Watch interviews with social work staff at the National Society for Human Rights, Jeddah, December 12, 2006; and with medical personnel working with victims of violence in Riyadh, December 2006 (names and exact date withheld); National Society for Human Rights, “General Statistics of the Cases Arrived at the Human Rights Society Branch of Makkah from November 20, 2004 to June 25, 2006,” copy on file with Human Rights Watch.

125 Human Rights Watch interview with Leila al-Daghathir and Salwa Abu Nayan, December 3, 2006.

126 Convention on the Rights of the Child, arts. 19, 20.

127 See Council of Ministers Decree 868 of July 29, 1975 (19/7/1395), in Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, Collection of Laws and Regulations of the Ministry’s Agency for Social Affairs, p. 99; Girls’ and Young Women’s Welfare Institution Regulations, art. 18; and Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs Decree 2083 of January 24, 1976 (22/1/1396), art. 8.

128 Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs Decree 1354 of August 11, 1975 (3/8/1395), art. 6.

129 Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 3; and Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, arts. 1, 2, 3, and 15(1).

130 See above for information on Saudi Arabia’s guardianship system.  

131 Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs Decree 2083 of January 24, 1976 (22/1/1396), art. 16.

132 Human Rights Watch interview with Adel Farahat, March 9, 2008.

133 Human Rights Watch interview with Leila al-Daghathir and Salwa Abu Nayan, December 3, 2006. During a brief visit to the same facility in 2003 Human Rights Watch spoke to a male psychologist who described himself as a member of the Commission to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice and who said that he worked with families who had rejected their daughters to try to convince the father and male extended family members to take the girl or young woman back. The director added that if the family continued to refuse, the girl or young woman remained detained, in some cases for as long as a year while the staff “make sure the girl has been changed.” Human Rights Watch interview with the director and staff of the Riyadh Girls’ and Young Women’s Welfare Institution, Riyadh, January 28, 2003.

134 For example, staff at the National Society for Human Rights estimate that only 1 to 2 percent of their petitions to withdraw guardianship from an abusive guardian are successful. In one case the Society took up, it took the courts five years to remove the guardianship from a father who was sexually abusing his children. Human Rights Watch interviews with staff at two nongovernmental organizations working with victims of violence, Riyadh, December 2006 (names and exact dates withheld), and with legal and social work staff at the National Society for Human Rights, Makkah Branch, Jeddah, December 12, 2006.

135 More generally, children and women have difficulty gaining access to Ministry of Social Affairs shelters for victims of domestic violence. Human Rights Watch interviews with doctors and hospital social workers who treat victims of violence, names withheld, Riyadh, December 4-7, 2006; and with staff at two nongovernmental organizations working with victims of violence (names and exact dates withheld), Riyadh, December 2006.

136 Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs Decree 1354 of August 11, 1975 (3/8/1395), art. 20.

137 Letter from Human Rights Watch to Minister of Social Affairs `Abd al-Muhsin al-`Akkas, March 18, 2007.

138 Convention on the Rights of the Child, arts. 37(d) and 40(b)(iii).

139 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 10, Children’s Rights in Juvenile Justice, para. 28(b).

140 Human Rights Watch interview with Shaikh Muhammad Al `Abdullah, Dr. Ibrahim al-Juhayman, Hamid al-Jarba, and` Abd al-Latif al-Quraysh, Riyadh, November 29, 2007.

141 Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 40(2)(b)(iv).

142 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 10, Children’s Rights in Juvenile Justice, para. 23(h).

143 Human Rights Watch interview with Leila al-Daghathir and Salwa Abu Nayan, December 3, 2006.

144 Ibid.

145 Human Rights Watch interview with `Ali bin Hassan al-`Ajami, December 2, 2006.

146 Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, “Every child deprived of liberty shall be treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person, and in a manner which takes into account the needs of persons of his or her age.” CRC, art. 37(c).

147 UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty, paras. 17, 28.

148 Human Rights Watch is aware of reports of sexual abuse in at least two other types of Ministry of Social Affairs facilities for children. A recent UNICEF report cites instances of sexual abuse of younger children by older children at the Ministry of Social Affairs facility for child beggars in Jeddah, and notes that staff at that facility reported using corporal punishment to discipline (ta’dib) older boys implicated in such abuse. UNICEF Gulf Area Office, “Trafficking in children and child involvement in beggary in Saudi Arabia,” undated, http://www.unicef.org/gao/resources_publications_childtrafficking_dr__ushari.pdf (accessed September 22, 2007).Two individuals familiar with the Ministry of Social Affairs Social Guidance Home (dar al-tawjih al-ijtima`i)  in Riyadh separately told Human Rights Watch that sexual abuse was common there, including older boys raping newly arriving very young boys, and boys of various ages engaging in prostitution outside the center. Human Rights Watch interviews with individuals familiar with the Riyadh Social Guidance Home, Riyadh, December 2006 (names and exact dates withheld).

149 The total number of beds authorities showed Human Rights Watch (approximately 210) was significantly fewer than the 274 children reported to be held at the facility on the day of our visit. When Human Rights Watch researchers questioned the director about closed rooms with papered-over windows that we were not allowed to enter, he said the closed rooms were dormitories that were used only for “overflow” when the facility had higher numbers of detainees. Viewed from the outside, these closed rooms appeared to be at least as large as the room with 31 beds. Human Rights Watch interview with `Ali bin Hassan al-`Ajami, December 2, 2006.

150 For example, on the day of Human Rights Watch’s visit the detainees were outside in a large courtyard, and later we were told that they had all entered a prayer area.

151 According to the director there, the 18-year-olds should have been transferred to an adult prison, but the staff judged them to be “small for their age” and at risk of abuse if transferred to an adult prison. Human Rights Watch interview with `Ali bin Hassan al-`Ajami, December 2, 2006.

152 UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty, para. 33.

153 Council of Ministers Decree 868 of July 29, 1975 (19/7/1395), arts, 2, 5.

154 Ministry of Social Affairs pamphlet no. 15, 2006 (1427), p. 8.

155 During a brief visit by Human Rights Watch to the Riyadh Girls’ and Young Women’s Welfare Institution in 2003, several of the detainees appeared to be in their early teens. A staff member said that some of the detainees were ages 13 or 14, and that the facility sometimes received 12-year-old girls. Human Rights Watch interview with the director and staff of the Riyadh Girls’ and Young Women’s Welfare Institution, Riyadh, January 28, 2003.

156 Human Rights Watch interview with Leila al-Daghathir and Salwa Abu Nayan, December 3, 2006.

157 Ibid.