Saudi Government Agencies to Have Human Rights Liaison Officer

The Saudi government has approved a number of human rights positions assigned to legal departments within state agencies.

According to the new decision, every department will now have a human rights liaison officer to follow up on complaints received by the relevant human rights committees.

The officer will also assume a number of duties, including raising awareness on human rights within state departments, holding training activities, issuing visual materials and publications, in close coordination with the Saudi Human Rights Commission.

The liaison officer will also monitor the good implementation of human rights treaties which Saudi Arabia is party to, and keep pace with the recommendations and directives issued by the relevant international and UN bodies on human rights mechanisms.

Other tasks include disclosing violations against human rights within the state entities, notifying the relevant authority to take the necessary measures to address them, and building advanced databases for the administration in the relevant authorities to provide statistical data, in coordination with the Human Rights Commission.