Awatif Mohammad Shoqi Advocates & Legal Consultancy | View firm profile
Parents are the foremost guardians in a child’s life, nourishing and protecting them during the most vulnerable stages. Parents are expected to be loving, kind and understanding of their children’s needs. However, in rare cases, parents become the very individuals from whom the children need protection.
The UAE government stresses the importance of the protection and upliftment of children. The country has a dedicated law for the welfare of children and their protection under Federal Law No. 3 of 2016 on Child Rights Law. The law is commonly known as Wadeema’s law.
Rights of children under Wadeema’s Law
Basic Rights
The law guarantees children the right to life and safety and states that the government will ensure children’s growth, development and protection. This includes ensuring that children have a respectable name, birth certificate, appropriate nationality, and legitimacy. Article 14 prohibits child employment below the age of 15 and ensures that children are able to express themselves freely.
Family Rights
Family rights provide children the right to be introduced to his natural family, and receive their care. A child will have the right to custody, feeding, education, financial protection and protecting himself, including his body, religion and property.
Health Rights
The law provides every child the right to health services in accordance with the laws and regulations of health care in the country. The law also states that the government will develop substantial health services and provide guides to better child health and nutrition. In pursuance of the same, Article 21 prohibits the selling of tobacco to individuals below the age of 18. It also prohibits smoking in the presence of children, or selling intoxicants to children.
Social rights
Under the social rights provided to children, the state provides mechanism such as foster care or other social care institutions to ensure that children obtain a standard of living appropriate for the physical, mental, psychological and social growth of the child in accordance with the laws in force.
Cultural rights
The law provides for the establishment of guidelines and institutions that regulate cultural, artistic and scientific knowledge for children. The law also highly regulates inappropriate content and access to media that may be detrimental to a child’s development.
Educational Rights
The law provides children the right to education, and equal opportunity. It also provides for the government to establish mechanisms to prevent children’s school dropout, prohibit violence in school, and promote the participation of parents in the decisions relevant to children.
Right to protection
One of the most important provisions under Wadeema’s law is the right to protection. This guarantees that a custodian must not abandon a child, physically, mentally or financially. It is the duty of a custodian to ensure that the child is enrolled in school. It is prohibited to make a child engage in beggary, or other illegal occupations, or engage them in any work that hinders their education, or endangers their health.
Article 36 of the law safeguards a child from torture, physical assault or any action that compromises the child’s emotional, psychological, mental or moral safety.
Protection mechanism
The government has set up a series of helplines to help children report instances of domestic abuse. Complaints can be made to the Ministry of Interiors (MOI), the Dubai Police, Community Development Authority and many more. Apart from toll free helplines, one may seek assistance through certain government websites, and government Applications.
You can report child abuse through the following channels
- MoI through the hotline number 116111 or through the MoI’s Child Protection Centre’s website and the ‘Hemayati’ app.
- Community Development Authority- CDA on hotline: 800988
- EWAA Shelter for Women and Children on hotline: 8007283
- Dubai Foundation for Women and Children on 800111
- Child protection centre in Sharjah on toll-free helpline number 800 700
- Hemaya Foundation for Children and Women – Ajman on hotline: 800 or 800446292
- Aman Centre for Women and Children through RAK Police – 07-2356666
Child protection specialists
Wadeema’s Law provides for the presence of child protection officers in institutions that work with child welfare, to assist and investigate matters related to child abuse, and raise awareness in the matter.
Article 43 of the law states that anyone who has attained the age of 18 and becomes aware of a case of child abuse, must provide help to the child facing abuse, including reporting to competent authorities regarding the abuse.
Penalties
If a person is found to have tortured a child, or physically assaulted a child, or performed any activity that compromises a child’s emotional, psychological, mental or moral safety, he or she will be punished by a minimum imprisonment of one year and/or a fine between AED 50,000 and AED 100,000.
However, if this act is committed by the child’s parent(s) or custodian, they may instead be subject to one or more of the following measures:
- Performing community service.
- Placement in a therapeutic shelter.
- Subjecting them to one or more rehabilitation and guidance programs.
- Suspension of custody of the child.
Conclusion
In the UAE, a child is well protected and provided with a number of resources that enable the child to seek help from abusive parents. However, acknowledging that children may be unaware of these channels, or ill-equipped to seek assistance, the law places the onus on responsible adults and trained individuals to look for signs of abuse and report such cases to the competent authority.