One third of apprehended 60,000 beggars are Saudis
In this file photo, women are seen begging at a street in Riyadh.
RIYADH: A third of the approximately 60,000 beggars rounded up over the past 12 months in Riyadh province were Saudis, the Riyadh police announced on Friday.
“Among those arrested, 33 percent were Saudis — mainly women — and the rest were expatriates from various countries,” according to an official.
The beggars included 59 percent men, 25 percent women and 16 percent children.
In a bid to control the menace among shoppers, motorists and pedestrians, the Riyadh police enforced a major crackdown on beggars since the beginning of the Islamic year. The police found that a section of the expatriate beggars are not professionals.
Under a program launched by the government, the expatriates will be deported while the natives are sent for rehabilitation, which is programmed by the Ministry of Social Affairs.
In Jeddah, a shelter for child beggars run by the Al-Bir Welfare Society has deported over 6,000 children and released over 1,500 after obtaining residence permits for them since it was founded seven years ago.
According to shelter’s director Zarie Al-Hakami, this year alone 411 children were placed into their care. Out of this group 363 were deported. Eighteen were handed over to their families after they signed a pledge not to beg again. He added that between five and 10 children are brought to the center every day and said the center was currently looking after 30 children of different nationalities, including eight girls. Al-Hakami said the majority of children in the center are from Afghanistan, Nigeria, Yemen and Chad.
He said the center works in close cooperation with security forces, including the passport police.
“These departments bring the children to the center when their parents are in the detention center, waiting either to be deported or released once they rectify their residence situation,” he said.
The Al-Bir Welfare Society runs four orphanages in the city of Jeddah, housing a total of 300 children. “The children are picked up at traffic lights and intersections,” the official said.
A survey conducted by UNICEF in 2007 found that up to 50 percent of child beggars in the Kingdom entered the country with their parents.
It is reported that Saudi authorities arrest 3,500 Yemeni children a month, smuggled into the country to work or beg.
Begging increases in the Kingdom during the Haj pilgrimage season and during the holy month of Ramadan when it is customary to give charity.
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