A Madina Health Affairs report showed that 85 percent of domestic abuse victims are women and abuse of children under 18 amounted to about 39 percent of the cases; 64 percent of violence against children was physical in nature. This includes 18 percent cases involving sexual assault. Dr. Fatima Dawoud, head of the Domestic Violence Protection Team and member of the Protection Committee in Madina's Health Affairs, said the cases that were reported and referred to authorities involved beating, burning, direct and indirect sexual assault and negligence of medical care, in addition to psychological pressure such as preventing the victim from having a national identification card. The absence of a national ID makes it hard to for a victim to get medical care or enroll in school. “Unfortunately there are no genuine numbers on domestic abuse in Arab countries including the Kingdom due to several reasons, since beating children is considered sometimes a way to discipline children,” she said. “Another reason is that there are no specialized institutions that work according to a clear mechanism and laws. The numbers available right now do not accurately show the magnitude of this phenomenon,” she said. According to a nationwide study, 78.5 percent of the Kingdom's children face violence or negligence. The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) says that till 2010 it received 1,923 cases of violence against children. The society was established in 2004. The highest rate of violence occurs against children under three, according to Dr. Abdullah Al-Sabi, Chairman of the Scientific Committee in the Gulf Society for Disability. Official statistics show that there are 8,500 children of unknown parentage living in the Kingdom's social care homes, according to Dr. Ahmad Al-Hussaini, who has researched the phenomenon. __
