Dubai: Allowing your baby or small child to sit in the front seat or jump around in a moving car is no worse than hitting him repeatedly. The act is tantamount to child abuse, an official said on Monday.
“Negligence, I would say, is as critical as the act of abuse itself. Having a child in the front seat is negligence. The consequences are severe,” Khalid Al Kamda, director-general of the Community Development Authority (CDA), told Gulf News on the sidelines of the launch of the Human Rights Short Film Competition on Monday.
The competition, organised by the Human Rights Sector at CDA, aims to focus on child rights, zooming in on four categories: right to education, to health care, to protection from abuse, negligence and exploitation, and the rights of children with disabilities.
Physical, verbal, and other forms of abuse are alarming. But Al Kamda said parental neglect, which often boils down to misconceptions in child rearing that may put children in danger, should also be addressed. Al Kamda said CDA will do this by educating parents on the consequences of their actions.
“So, if I hit a child, that is minor compared to when the car [with a child in the front seat] collides with another car. The parents should know that their acts are, first of all, irresponsible and they should be aware of the law and of the consequences.”
In the UAE, children aged below 12 are prohibited from sitting in a car’s front seat. But this is an all too common sight every day, Al Kamda said.
“We’re not saying parents are negligent. We’re saying parents are not aware. So our job is to really create awareness among the parents to say, ‘No, these kinds of behaviours are unacceptable because you are putting your child in danger’.”
Any form of abuse or crime against children is punishable under UAE laws.
A Child Rights Law, drafted in the memory of Wudeema, the eight-year-old girl who was starved and tortured to death in Dubai by her father and his girlfriend, was approved by the Federal National Council earlier this year.
The new law awaits approval by President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Maitha Al Shamsi, CEO of the Human Rights Sector at CDA, acknowledged that there’s a difference between children knowing their rights and children fighting for their rights.
She said Dubai is at a point where children still need to be educated about their rights.
Only after achieving that can society progress to the second part.
Maitha said she hopes that the short film competition will help accomplish this. The competition is open to all university students in the UAE regardless of nationality. One student or a group of students can produce a three- to five-minute film focusing on educating the public on child rights.
The deadline for entries is November 20. Winning entries will be announced on December 10. The first prize winner will take home Dh25,000, the second prize winner will get Dh20,000, while the third prize winner will be given Dh15,000.
For more information visit www.cda.gov.ae.
