Five hundred experts in a workshop on child abuse in Riyadh have called upon the authorities not to practice conciliation, as is usually done in child abuse cases, but to punish those who abuse children in order to avoid spawning a generation of children with psychological problems. They pointed out that child abuse, which is a problem in all cultures, has negative social, cultural and health effects, adding that sexual harassment is the most dangerous kind of child abuse because it causes psychological damage which can last for years. Norah Ajlan, a member of the Human Rights Commission, warned that dealing with abuse cases by means of conciliation is not a solution, adding that “he who is not punished is given a license to do anything.” Monirah Al-Qunaibet, a kindergarten supervisor in the Ministry of Education, said 75 percent of child abusers are people who are close relatives of the abused children and should be a source of safety for them. Maha Aal Al-Sheikh, Supervisor in the Arab Gulf Program for United Nations Development Organizations, said, “Among the important goals of the workshop is displaying children's rights and the kind of abuse they may face, especially sexual harassment and negative educational practices and how to avoid these problems.
