Saudi Gazette MAKKAH — Women support offices at personal status courts in the Kingdom have so far provided 8,270 services, including the drafting of claims and legal counseling to 6,362 women, in the first six months of the current Hijri year. The Ministry of Justice and the Mawaddah Women Foundation for Reducing the Risks of Divorce set up the women support offices to provide legal counseling to women who file cases at personal status courts and help them prepare necessary paperwork. Sheikh Mansour Al-Qifari, spokesman for the Ministry of Justice, said these offices played an eclectic role in educating women and facilitating legal procedures for them and helping them draft statements of claim. "The ministry opened its doors wide to all women foundations to implement various initiatives inside courts. This, of course, comes in line with the ministry's Vision 2030 policy aiming to increase the level of collaboration with non-governmental organizations," Al-Qifari explained. The ministry, together with Mawaddah Foundation, will open more offices in personal status courts all over the country since, according to statistics, 60 percent of the cases being reviewed by these courts are related to women's issues such as divorce, child custody and visitation rights. Personal status courts in Jeddah will have such offices soon. Dr. Amal Al-Feraih, executive director of the Mawaddah Foundation, said the foundation has qualified female legal counselors to provide consultations to women. She said women support offices in Riyadh helped in resolving 3,119 cases, including 479 marriage annulments, 59 khula cases (divorces at the insistence of women), 490 child custody cases, 64 visitation right cases, 488 alimony cases and 115 divorce suits, during the period. The offices also provided assistance in drafting 2,444 claim statements, offered 777 consultations and finalized paperwork in 3,032 cases. In Madinah, the offices rendered assistance in 2,166 cases, including 331 marriage annulments, 59 khula cases, 408 child custody cases, 108 visitation rights, 423 alimony cases and 82 divorce suits. The offices drafted 1,095 claim statements, offered 1,639 consultations and finalized the procedures in 1,406 cases. In Dammam, 1,394 cases were resolved with the help of the offices. They included 128 marriage annulments, 37 khula cases, 131 child custody cases, 18 visitation rights, 214 alimony cases and 37 divorce cases. The offices helped draft 827 claim statements and offered 686 consultations while finalizing the procedures in 1,513 cases. In Makkah, the offices completed 799 cases, including 102 marriage annulments, 35 khula divorces, 105 child custody cases, 15 visitation rights, 142 alimony cases and 33 divorces, during the period. The offices drafted 670 claim statements and offered 131 consultations in addition to finalizing procedures in 801 cases.
