RIYADH: A report drawn up by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (the Hai'a) shows that over 51.4 percent of runaway girls in the Kingdom are aged between 16 and 20. 38.5 percent are aged between 21 and 25, the report states. The report, which was an effort to determine the social causes of girls running away from home, find feasible solutions to prevent it occurring and help the girls back into society, was the result of analyses from instances recorded at girls' care homes in the four main administrative regions of Riyadh, the Eastern Province, Makkah, and Asir. The Hai'a noted that 52.3 percent of girls held after running away had gone no further than intermediate school in their education while 36.7 percent had secondary school qualifications. The report studied the cases of 109 Saudi girls who had run away from home and were inmates of girls' detention centers and prisons as well as over 1,000 Saudi women studying at university. Over 100 secondary school student counselors were also interviewed. It also covered the work conducted by the Hai'a to counter what it said were increasing numbers of girls running away from home, with awareness campaigns conducted through a variety of forms of media along with symposiums and social events. The report also addressed the methods the Hai'a has used in cases of blackmail and threats to preserve the reputation of victims and prevent blackmail cases turning into further instances of runaways. The Hai'a said the report was part of wider efforts to draw up work policies governing how various problems are handled, through studies and analyses to help identify problems before they emerge and tackle them before they worsen. The study on runaway girls was conducted with the help of the Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, and the Hai'a said it had conducted numerous studies “of considerable benefit” to its work in conjunction with other Saudi universities.
