Children’s initiatives rolled out

dubai — Lt Colonel Saeed Rashid Al Hili, director of the women and child protection department of the Dubai Police, said they have introduced three new initiatives for child rights protection. The first is the ‘Security Ambassadors’ initiative, which will train cadres of students aware of their rights as stipulated under the UAE law. These ambassadors will observe if any of their peers’ rights are being violated and act to protect their rights.

Students aged 6-16 will be the focus, with 100 security ambassadors appointed every academic year. So far, 72 security ambassadors have been selected in the current academic year and 8 committees formed. Among them, 42 remarks and cases of human rights violations, including child abuse and negligence, have already been noted, with some solved by the schools itself and 7 cases tackled by police.

The second initiative is ‘Child Protection Patrols’, wherein civilian patrols have been appointed to transport children who are an easy target for crime and traffic accidents and also to transfer juveniles involved in crimes into an environment that provides a correctional and positive impact for them.

The third initiative — ‘Interactive screens’ spreads awareness among children through games, which dole out both questions and advice. Smart education on child rights will also be given, with the police designing an interactive drawing book for raising awareness among children on their rights.

These projects will be implemented fully in 3 years, Lt Col Al Hili said.

amira@khaleejtimes.com

The UAE in the past four years has issued a series of federal laws, most importantly, antidiscrimination and hatred law and Wadeema law,” Ahmed Al Jarman, Assistant Foreign Minister for Human Rights and International law.