The Shoura Council is slated to resume sessions following the summer holidays on Monday.

The house will take up the annual report from the Ministry of Haj on Tuesday, among other topics that have been put on the agenda for discussion.

Some 2 million pilgrims performed Haj last year and the council will review the services offered to pilgrims on the basis of the annual report.

The house will make its observations and recommendations to improve services offered by the Haj Ministry. The Haj report will be presented to the house by the committee on housing, water and public services.

The committee for Islamic affairs, meanwhile, will submit an annual report drafted by the General Presidency for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia), while the report on the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center will be presented by the health and environmental committee.

Annual reports issued by the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu (RCJY), Saudi Industrial Development Fund and the the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) will also be taken up at the upcoming sessions.

Headed by Abdullah Al-Asheikh, the Shoura Council is a consultative body composed of 150 members, including 30 women.

In January 2013, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah issued two royal decrees granting women 30 seats on the council and stating that women must always hold at least a fifth of all seats.

According to the decrees, the female council members must be “committed to Islamic law disciplines without any violations” and be “restrained by the religious veil.”

The decrees also said that female council members would be entering the council building from special gates, sit in seats reserved for women and pray at special areas of worship. Officials had earlier said that a screen would separate genders. Men and women would communicate via an internal communications network.

Three women were named deputy chairpersons of three committees. Thurayya Obeid was named deputy chairwoman of the human rights and petitions committee, Zainab Abu Talib deputy chairwoman of the information and cultural committee, and Lubna Al-Ansari deputy chairwoman of the health affairs and environment committee.

 
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