Report: 90% Saudi Disabled People Suffer Sexual Abuse

Ninety percent of Saudi mentally or physically disabled people are subjected to sexual abuse across the kingdom, a new report said. Saudi Arabia’s al-Iqtissadiya wrote in a report on Saturday that disabled people are the most vulnerable group in the country that suffer from sexual abuse. According to experts cited in the report, the mentally disabled have the highest number of victims, with at least 90 percent of them having been abused at least once. The number of abuse victims is relatively lower in physically disables which stands at 20 percent. The report says most of the victims are women while a considerable number of them are children as well. Records of the reported abuses show that the attackers mostly come from close relatives of the victims, with 99 percent of the reports having listed a close family member as the attacker. The experts express worry that abused children suffer from high levels of post-traumatic stress and show signs of behavioral disorder and decrease in level of training following in many cases. Domestic abuse is not openly discussed in the country, but in April the first public service campaign against domestic abuse was launched. Only in August a law passed by the Saudi Arabian cabinet that banned violence against women and children in the home as well as in the workplace. The new law can impose a jail term of up to one year and a fine from roughly $1,300 to $13,000.