UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – UAE orders Child Protection Law
UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has recently ordered the legislation of a federal child protection law aiming to ensure the safety of children in the UAE, according to his official website.
The urge of this new bill is followed by the unfortunate and traumatic death of an eight-year-old girl, whose body was found in a village off a highway in Dubai. Meanwhile, the father has been arrested on suspicion of murder and is also suspected of torturing his seven-year-old daughter, who has been hospitalised for a while.
This particular case triggered great concern and drew close attention to the UAE’s lack of child protection laws. The drafting and debating of the bill was expected to take several months, according to UAE’s official news agency, WAM. However, since Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ordered the prompt enactment of the bill, the process is likely to speed up. “The ministry is currently working to speed up the legislative session of the draft federal law on the Rights of the Child, which is in the final stages, after extensive studies on the articles of the law, and various meetings with authorities on children, especially the interior ministry,
which had important contributions in the preparation of this draft law,” said Her Excellency Maryam Al Roumi, Minister of Social Affairs, in a statement.
The proposed bill is mainly derived from the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the UAE ratified in 1996. It spells out the basic health, social, cultural and educational right of children and sets out mechanisms, measures ad penalties for protection of these rights, told Roumi to WAM.
She added that the new law would be tailored to children rather than the general penalty code, which does not differ from the use of violence against an adult to a child.
