To affirm the right to equality and non-discrimination, the Kingdom has sought to
consolidate the right to gender equality, especially in matters related to the right to work,
as Decree Law No. (16) for the year 2021 came to amend some provisions of the Labor
Law in the private sector issued by Law No. (36) for the year 2012, to prohibit wage
discrimination between male and female workers in work of equal value, which is in line
with relevant International Labor Organization decisions.
In support of the principle of equal opportunities between the sexes, and to increase the
empowerment of women to participate in various fields, the previous decree-law came to
abolish the work of: Article (30) of the original law stipulates the necessity for the
competent minister to specify the conditions, jobs and occasions in which women may
not be employed at night, and Article (31) which requires the competent minister to issue
a decision specifying the jobs in which it is prohibited to employ women, and thus the
amendment contained the law has made it possible for a working woman to work in any
field without restricting her right to choose the right work for her like men, and without any
restrictions preventing her from working at night.
In the context of the individual’s right to freedom and enjoyment of fair trial guarantees,
the criminal policy in the Kingdom has adopted during the past years a course that limits
the use and limitation of penalties that deprive of liberty, and resorting to punitive or
procedural alternatives, by creating a mediation system in criminal matters, and
determining criminal conciliation and reconciliation, or resorting to alternative penalties or
measures, which is included in Law No. (18) of 2017, as amended by Decree-Law No.
(24) of 2021, so that these alternative penalties and measures are able to integrate the
convict and make him effective and fit in society, which is without a doubt will reflect
positively on the situation of those covered by the provisions of this law, and on the current
inmates in correctional and rehabilitation centers and pretrial detention.
In this regard, the NIHR supports the issuance of Law No. (4) of 2021 promulgating the
Correctional Justice for Children and Protection from Abuse Law, as a law that enhances
restorative justice for children at all stages of the criminal case, including investigation,
trial and during the execution of the judgment, as the law came to decide consistency with
conventions and treaties. The international standards that the Kingdom has ratified or
acceded to, by providing the necessary support and protection for this category, by
rehabilitating them and reintegrating them into society, which was confirmed by
international human rights standards, by urging states to take all legislative and
administrative measures to protect children and take into account their best interests at
all times, for the sake of justice in its comprehensive sense.
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