KHALID ALNOWAISER, ARABNEWS

Recently, the Saudi government appointed a new president for the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice who is known to be a more open-minded and progressive thinker.

However, the problem is not so much with the individuals on the commission but with the institution itself and how it operates.

For example, its executive bylaws in many respects are vague and have allowed some of its members to violate basic human rights, including in some cases the physical and verbal abuse of Saudi citizens.

Unfortunately, the commission’s executive bylaws outlined its powers and functions in only a general way, allowing too much license in how its mission was to be achieved.

As a result, this has led to the violations that are committed by the commission’s members. Indeed, the commission seems to exercise its power in excess of proper limitations and in violation of individual freedom. But let me be clear: I am not talking about the ritual of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice stated in the Qur’an which must be respected and followed by all Muslims, but about the unacceptable activities of the commission’s members.

Those acting on behalf of the commission have repeatedly shown that they do not respect the people’s right of privacy, and they engage in practices that are objectionable such as chasing and assaulting people and forcing segregation between men and women.

The commission’s executive bylaws contain some provisions that fail to consider human rights issues that are acknowledged around the world. For example, commission members, pursuant to Article 13 of the executive bylaws, may interfere with a person’s private property rights, which clearly violates Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and the first and second paragraphs of Article 14 of the Arab Charter On Human Rights of 2004.

Further, the commission’s practice ignores the international covenants of human rights regarding the guarantees of the accused during investigation, as according to Article 22 of the commission’s executive bylaws, the latter may investigate without the presence of the guarantees set forth in the Law of Criminal Procedure.

This certainly violates Article 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 13 of the Arab Charter On Human Rights. Furthermore, the commission’s members use force during investigation and inspection, which is against not only international human rights treaties but also the regulations of the Kingdom.

In order to protect the basic rights of citizens, the commission needs to be reformed as soon as possible. Merely hoping that its leadership will be more progressive does nothing to correct the underlying problem, which is the commission’s interference with individual liberties. To that end, the government should consider the following changes:

READ HERE: http://arabnews.com/opinion/columns/article574718.ece