Article 3 of the Saudi Protection from Abuse Law

المادة 3 من نظام الحماية من الإيذاء

The article obliges anyone who learns of a case of abuse to report it at once, and requires public employees and private-sector workers to inform their employer so that it notifies the Ministry or the police.

Official text (Arabic)

This article has not been amended since the law was issued.

1 - يجب على كل من يطلع على حالة إيذاء الإبلاغ عنها فوراً.

2 - مع مراعاة ما تقضي به الأنظمة ذات العلاقة من إجراءات، يلتزم كل موظف عام - مدني أو عسكري - وكل عامل في القطاع الأهلي، اطلع على حالة إيذاء - بحكم عمله - إحاطة جهة عمله بالحالة عند علمه بها، وعليها إبلاغ الوزارة أو الشرطة بحالة الإيذاء فور العلم بها، وتحدد اللوائح إجراءات التبليغ.

This is the official Arabic wording, the only legally binding version. We do not translate the law itself; the explanation below is ours. Official source: Bureau of Experts at the Council of Ministers

Article 3 explained in plain English

This article sets out the duty to report cases of abuse as defined in Article 1, and distinguishes two situations:

Any person: everyone who learns of a case of abuse must report it at once. Reporting here is a duty, not merely a right.
An employee or worker who learns of the case through work: every public employee, civilian or military, and every worker in the private sector, who learns of a case of abuse through work, must inform the body he works for of the case when he learns of it. The employer body must then notify the Ministry (the Ministry of Social Affairs) or the police as soon as it learns of it.

The employee's and worker's obligation is "subject to the procedures required by the relevant laws", meaning that other laws regulating the work of those bodies remain relevant. The article leaves the details of how to report to the regulations, which set out its procedures.

Article 4 completes this provision by stating the bodies that receive reports, which are the Ministry and the police. This article serves the protection objective in Article 2. A person who is unsure of his position or of which body to notify can consult a lawyer specializing in criminal cases.

Practical example

A nurse working at a private hospital in Riyadh notices signs of repeated beating on a child and learns from what he says that one of his parents hits him. She must inform the hospital's management of the case when she learns of it, and the hospital must notify the Ministry or the police at once.

Translated from our Arabic explanation with machine assistance. For guidance only; it does not replace advice from a lawyer on your situation.

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