RIYADH — Saudi Arabia's Human Rights Commission (HRC) has clarified that a child who is born to unknown parents in the Kingdom will be considered as a Saudi and that the state will provide integrated healthcare for the child. While elucidating the rights of the child in the Kingdom's laws, the commission said that the child is not held criminally accountable unless he is seven years old at the time of committing the punishable crime. HRC also emphasized that penalties will be stringent even if the perpetrator of the crime is not aware that the victim is a child. The commission said that any male or female under the age of 18 and whose father has passed away and does not have a capable breadwinner or sufficient source of income to make a living will benefit from annuity. HRC also explained that it is neither permissible to employ any person under the age of 15 nor are they permitted to enter the workplace. Anyone who commits an offense that includes among the crimes of child abuse, will be awarded a jail term not exceeding one year or a maximum fine of SR50,000 or both, the commission said while stressing that discontinuing of education of a child is considered as an abuse or negligence.
