During the period from 13-15 Safar 1435 AH , corresponding to 16 – 18 December 2013 AD,  the  Family Safety Program has set up the Child Helpline (116 111) regional conference in collaboration with the International Organization for child helplines and the National Guard Health Affairs under the banner of ” Child talks … We all listens “. The conference has taken place  in the conference center at the University of King Saud bin Abdul-Aziz for Health Sciences in Riyadh under the patronage of Princess Adela bint Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz . The conference aims to discuss the challenges and the effective plans and the exchange of experiences concerning the child helplines around the world , as well as to provide an opportunity for all partners and stakeholders to compete in providing innovative solutions and contributions for supporting the children and adolescents in all the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s regions. This will be through valuable lectures, papers and workshops dedicated for the professionals and the public including the adults and children alike. The main topics of the Conference  also included (the  child’s rights and the role of the child helpline in strengthening them., the role of the governmental and private sectors in supporting the child helplines , statistics and data collection systems and their role in supporting child helplines, Arab countries’ experiences in child helplines , the Mechanisms of reaching children … Challenges and obstacles , the role of Telecommunication systems in supporting child helplines, the children and youth’s role in the child helpline – hopes and aspirations ) .

Dr. Qahtani giving a speech on the first day of the Conference

In addition, on 13 Safar 1435 AH -16 December 2013, the National Society for Human Rights, represented by its Chairman , Dr. Mufleh Al-Qahtani, has participated in the first day of the conference, by a working paper entitled : “Children’s Rights in Saudi Arabia: the current situation and the aspirations of the future, “.The working paper is discussing the reality of the children’s rights in Saudi Arabia , and presenting the national  systems and legislation which were approved , as well as the international conventions and protocols ratified by the Kingdom which aimed to enforce the child’s rights . The paper has also addressed the future ambitions for the child’s rights in the Kingdom from the legislative and practical side alike. Besides, it illustrated that, ” Islam urges childhood’s care and supports it by many legislations that conserve and protect it not only from birth but even before that”. To illustrate, it asserts on choosing the parents and puts provisions that protect the fetus and reserve his rights. However, childhood, in general,  is  still having some problems in the upbringing and in its social and legal conditions.  It has been monitored that there is a fulfillment of some of the rights and a significant development in others and there is a need to work in order to fulfill the rest of these rights whether for the children in general or for certain categories of them. From the rights that the children have in the Kingdom : the child’s right to life – the child’s right to access to care – the child’s right to get a proper upbringing- the child’s right to education- the child’s right to nationality and access to the identifying papers – the child’s right to get proper nutrition – the child’s right to live with his parents in the separation’s case – in the case of the parent’s absence or death, he has the right to live with foster families or under the auspices of the state- the right to play and recreation- the right of the special needs children to access their basic needs easily and by the appropriate ways according to the conditions of each of them – the right to be heard –  the child’s right not to be neglected and his right to protection from abuse “. The working paper has also included a detailed information on these rights and the difficulties that are facing them in the Kingdom.

Moreover, on 15 Safar 1435 AH- 18 December 2013 AD , Khaled Al Fakhiri, the legal counselor and the secretary-general of the Society, has participated in the panel discussion at the Seventh Session of the conference. He has confirmed that entrenching the principle of partnership and cooperation between the civil society’s institutions, the private sector and the Child helpline ( 116 111 ) and from the civil society’s institutions’ role which are the  associations and institutions established by a  group of people  to support common societal issues that aims to represent individuals and adopt their cases from the legal and social side including the children issues, the National Society for Human Rights, as being one of the civil society’s institutions, is giving the childhood issues, in particular,  great interest so as to eliminate any violation of the child’s rights . From this point, the Society has sought to protect the child’s rights by all means and is coordinating with all parties to help the child getting his rights since it is one of the issues that the Society deals with as cases of urgency. The Society is also working to collaborate with all stakeholders regarding the child in terms of legal, social and cultural rights. Besides, it has signed, in this regard, many memoranda of understanding with various stakeholders , including the Family Safety Program in order to provide the possible and urgent support  that the children need. It is worth mentioning that the child helpline (116 111) regional conference in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is considered one of the distinctive opportunities offered by the National Family Safety Program for integrating all the efforts of the individuals and institutions specialized in the children’s issues and the family safety in the Kingdom.