The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, under the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince – may God preserve them – has given great attention to strengthening the role of women in society, advancing their rights and protecting them, and involving them in the helm of development drawn by the auspicious vision of our country. Women through the package of reforms and capabilities with a large share of attention; Among the most prominent of these is parliamentary human rights work, involving her in it and making her, along with men, part of the judicial system, in which women were introduced for the first time in the Kingdom. The dear homeland, as women witness remarkable development in all their affairs until they prove that they are worthy and capable of giving just like men, which is reflected in their involvement in all fields and involvement in work in the corps of members of the Public Prosecution (investigation, public prosecution, monitoring of prisons), in addition to the advancement of work Within the scope of administrative functions (adviser, legal researcher, secretarial, various administrative works).
In order to complement this development, the Public Prosecution has implemented training programs for female students of the scientific departments (Regulations and Law) for trainees from various Saudi universities.
The Public Prosecution also guaranteed the right of women to plead and defend the accused during the investigation phase (lawyer). Rather, the Public Prosecution has been constantly updating its internal systems to keep pace with and empower them in professional practice, including the account of a female lawyer, equality between her and a lawyer in everything, and her right to attend hearings. Investigation, procedures sessions, access to the case papers, immediate notification of the Public Prosecution member's decisions, and her right to interview the Public Prosecution member, defend the accused, and take into account her privacy in this matter.
The Public Prosecution office emphasized the importance of observing the privacy of the investigation with girls in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Law and its implementing regulations, which stipulated that the investigation and trial of juveniles and girls be in accordance with the regulating laws and regulations.
It also included that hearing the woman's statements, interrogating her, and interrogating her be in the presence of one of her female relatives. To search him, and the search includes his body, clothes, and luggage, and if the accused is a woman, the search must be by a woman delegated by the criminal investigation officer.
The Public Prosecution refers to the right to include the woman if there is no one in the house to be searched except the accused woman, to have a woman with those conducting the search, while ensuring that the women in the house are secured, and the purpose of entry was not to arrest or search them.
Adding that, taking into account the provisions of Articles (forty-third) and (forty-five) of the Law of Criminal Procedures, if there are women in the residence, and the purpose of entry is not to arrest or search them, a woman must be with those conducting the search, and she must be able to veil herself, or Leave the residence, and that they be given the necessary facilities for that, in a way that does not harm the interest and outcome of the search.
The Public Prosecution Office stresses – according to its procedures – the protection of women from any form of abuse, violence or abuse in accordance with the system of protection from abuse, which aims to protect people – the most important of which is women – against any form of exploitation or physical, psychological or sexual abuse. , or the threat of it, which a person may commit against a woman, thereby transgressing the limits of his guardianship, authority, or responsibility, or because of their family relationship, dependency relationship, sponsorship, guardianship, or subordination of living. The mistreatment includes the refusal or failure of a person to fulfill his duties or obligations in providing the basic needs of another person in his family, or whoever is required by law or system to provide them with those needs.
In her family affairs, the Public Prosecution has attached great importance to the social aspect of women, so it was introduced by a decision of His Excellency the Public Prosecutor at the end of 1439 AH, based on the inherent competence of the Public Prosecution to act in public criminal cases, and this initiative came among a number of initiatives aimed at strengthening the role of the Public Prosecution In society by contributing to supporting family stability and reducing conflicts between individuals in cases of a simple nature that are often related to social and marital aspects, where work is done through criminal reconciliation units to bring the points of view between the parties together through scientific competencies specialized in family and social affairs without Referring these cases to the courts and increasing the period of litigation and dispute between the parties.
The initiative of the Criminal Reconciliation Unit in the Public Prosecution Office has contributed during this year to ending 2,656 criminal cases related to the social and family aspects, with a reconciliation rate of approximately (60%), and cooperation with a number of competent authorities to develop the Criminal Reconciliation Initiative by employing technology to expand criminal reconciliation operations by Remotely without requiring the presence of the parties within the branches of the Public Prosecution, which contributes, God willing, to increasing the number of cases in which conciliation takes place and achieving the ultimate goal of this initiative to preserve the family and achieve societal stability.
The Criminal Reconciliation Unit has also employed a number of (9) female family conciliators as a first stage, in addition to supervising the training of a number of female students from various Saudi universities on criminal conciliation skills.
The Public Prosecution also participated in the celebration of International Women's Day, which falls on the 8th of March, by presenting the rights and privileges that the Saudi regimes guarantee to women. Among them is the determination of the privacy of investigation with her and the prohibition of trafficking in women in any way, including coercion, threat, fraud or deception, in addition to protecting working women from any harassment or any form of violence or abuse.
The interest of the Public Prosecution in rehabilitating and empowering women comes in light of the leadership’s full confidence that it is up to the responsibility to carry out qualitative efforts in various fields that have qualified it to take honorable historical steps commensurate with the culture of society and the variables of the era and its outputs and various stages, with the grace of God, and then with the support of the wise leadership and rulers since the founding of The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which would advance the wheel of national development on the principle of equality and equal opportunities to achieve more in an unstoppable ambition within the framework of Vision 2030.
Imam Muhammad bin Saud University
College of Information and Communication
Saud Al Qout