year-old Saudi girl has taken a complaint accusing a member of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) of sexual harassment to the ministries of Interior and Social Affairs. The teenager alleges, according to Al-Hayat Arabic daily, that the unnamed official asked her to live with him at an apartment in Jeddah after she had gone to the NSHR along with 11 families seeking to complete civil status paperwork. The complaint states that procedures were followed as per normal and the NSHR secured for the girl a place of residence and provided other assistance. Soon after, however, one of the officials began conducting himself in an “inappropriate manner” with “not only her but members of other families as well”. The girl said the man started to visit other families at various times and visited her in her apartment. He also tried to persuade her to take an apartment in Jeddah and let him move in with her. She said the man would bring toys for the children of families that had no legal male guardian. “But he didn't bring toys to other families who had guardians,” she said. She said that at one point he called her to say he needed a room to sleep in at the apartment where she was staying, but when she voiced her disapproval he declared he was “only joking”. He then asked her to put up a mother and daughter in her apartment for one night until they found alternative accommodation. She agreed but was “surprised when he turned up alone”. “He closed the door behind him, and when I asked about the mother and daughter he said that they had found somewhere else, and then lay down on the sofa as if he was in his own house,” she said. “He asked me where I would like to live, and I told him with my aunt in Jeddah. He said he'd find me an apartment in Jeddah where he could live with me, and without my aunt.” When she questioned him on his behavior and suggestions, she said, he left without saying a word. The girl then informed another family of what had happened and who bore witness to her concern and advised her to draw up a complaint. A woman from the family said that the official then turned up and, in front of an official at the building, threatened to call the police if she did not desist from her accusations. “Officials from the NSHR came and took a statement from the girl,” she said. The NSHR told Al-Hayat that it is “following the case closely” and that it was working to ensure “all her rights are protected” and that she and other families are not subject to “any unpleasant behavior or violations in the future”.
