I HOPE readers view me today as a preacher and not a columnist. I feel pain every time I hear that the rights of the weak and voiceless have been trampled on. In most cases, such people are not aware of their rights and, therefore, they accept oppression without complaint. I feel even more pain when the rights of the same people continue to be trampled on. Such a violation could be based on sectarian or racist grounds while the violators justify their actions in the name of religion. A society that does not protect the rights of its weakest members is not a good one and nothing good can be expected to come out of it. Divine religions have come to form a connection between man and the Creator. They also organized the relationship among human beings and ensure that everyone gets their due rights. States ensure this by relying on religious principles and social and criminal legislation. States should hold violators accountable for their actions, should deter them and not allow the strong to violate the rights of the weak. On the contrary, they should encourage the strong to help the weak. Our Muslim Arab society should guarantee justice for everyone in order to be in compliance with Islamic law and out of generosity, two of the main things Arabs are known for. I believe women in my country have not been given their full rights delineated in the Holy Qur'an, the Prophet's traditions and national laws. Women still suffer at the hands of their male guardians who sometimes prevent them from getting married due to greed or revenge. They still suffer because their male guardians force them to get married to their cousins and other relatives due to tribal traditions. They still suffer because they are not given inheritance or custody and visitation rights to their children. They still suffer because they are abused physically and verbally and rarely are they treated fairly in courts. They still suffer because society opposes women's work and education. Women are blackmailed for various reasons and they endure it. They are viewed with suspicion as if they are guilty of many crimes. When they get their rights through a court order or a royal decree, they encounter more difficulties and are put in situations where they cannot demand their rights. It seems as if women are being punished for being born as women. However, women might be slightly responsible for this situation. A child's rights may be violated in Muslim societies because someone wants to seek revenge against its mother. The child will not be allowed to visit her or be in her custody. It might get deprived of an education, official identification papers, a proper social life and, above all, childhood. He will end up a slave worker, a victim of sexual assault, or become a thief or a drug addict. He might drop out of school and be attracted to people who hold extreme and deviant thoughts. Newspapers and social media websites continue to show examples of parents and teachers who blatantly violate children's rights in our country. The rights of the elderly and mentally-challenged are also trampled on. Sometimes, disobedient sons kill their own parents or neglect to take care of them, steal their money or even have their money confiscated by a court order. The elderly end up living in nursing centers or in hospitals even though they are perfectly healthy. Sometimes, they are disrespected, shouted at in public and not allowed to voice their opinions. The rights of the physically-challenged are violated as well. People park in spaces reserved for them, despise them and abuse them physically despite the fact that the Ministry of Social Affairs takes stern actions against such perpetrators. The rights of farm hands and domestic servants are also ignored. They are not given their salaries for months and sometimes years, are burdened with heavy workloads, forced to work without rest or day off and are not paid the bare minimum wage to cover their basic needs, leading some of them to commit crimes or take their own lives as a reaction to their situations. The media focuses on some of these cases but there are many more. The Council of Ministers had reiterated the Kingdom's commitment to protecting and enhancing human rights in the country. When will this commitment be turned into laws that penalize those who violate them?
