Move to also bar sex education for children under the age of nine following concerns about some of the materials being used in schools
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Representatives of more than 24 government authorities attended a panel discussion on Thursday to discuss some of the new elements of the Child Protection Law which will come into effect on June 15.
Law 3 of 2016 - informally called 'Wadeema's Law' in memory of an eight-year-old Emirati girl tortured to death by her father here - is a 12-chapter document which lays out the legal rights of minors in the UAE.
Some of the key topics discussed during the meeting included the issue surrounding the abandonment of children in the country.
Member of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood, Moza Shoumi said she has come across "many cases" where newborns diagnosed with a disability have been left at a hospital, where parents refuse to take them home.
"We also come across cases where step-children are kicked out of the home when they are 16 years old and are forced to live in juvenile centres. What this law now does is criminalise this act."
Parents or step-parents will now be given three warnings to re-introduce the child back into the home, and if they fail, they will receive either a financial penalty or imprisonment, depending on the nature of the case.
"If the parent does not respond to the third warning, the case will become a criminal offence," she said.
Abuse at home, school A study conducted in 2014 on more than 4,000 students revealed that a tenth of children in UAE schools are exposed to abuse or violence, while such exposure is less in homes. It also revealed that male children were more vulnerable when it comes to abuse. The study, conducted by the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children (DFWAC) on 'Abuse against children in the UAE society' found that 7.2 per cent of male participants were exposed to abuse at home, compared to 5.7 per cent of females.Similarly, more male children suffer abuse at school (15.1 per cent) than female children (9.3 per cent). Highlighted cases > April 2015: A special needs child was physically abused by a teacher in Sharjah. The Ministry of Education carried out an investigation into the incident which was reported by the student's father. > February 2013: The Public Prosecution demanded a death penalty against a stepfather accused of raping his stepchild, as per article 354 of UAE Penal Code on the grounds that the victim was a minor and the act was incest, which is illegal under the purview of Islamic Shariah. > May 2012: The Wadeema case - An Emirati father was arrested in May 2012 on the charges of torturing and killing Wadeema, and burying her body in a desert location near the Hatta-Oman border. |
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