Dubai: In the first quarter of this year, every day three women and children in distress sought refuge from the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children (DFWAC).
DFWAC received 329 new cases of victims of domestic violence, child abuse, human trafficking and other humanitarian cases from different nationalities from January to March this year.
Afra Al Basti, Director-General of the foundation, said the cases included 107 victims of domestic violence, 34 victims of child abuse, and nine cases of human trafficking. The remaining 179 cases were other humanitarian situations such as those seeking financial aid and counselling and suspicion of trafficking and others.
Afra confirmed that the foundation receives victims of abuse from various nationalities living in the UAE, and its role is not limited to the care and rehabilitation of victims but it opens its doors to the victims of all other types of abuse, such as verbal abuse, neglect, financial abuse and others.
Afra pointed out that the UAE community is now more aware about issues of violence against women and children, which is reflected in the growing number of counselling requests that the foundation receives daily.
The new cases include 61 cases that received care and rehabilitation services in the foundation’s shelter, and 268 cases received the same services but were not in need of shelter because of the availability of alternative accommodation.
Among the new cases, 117 were Emiratis, 205 cases from other nationalities and seven cases of unknown nationalities. The foundation received 274 cases of women, 55 of men, and 50 cases involving children.
Afra pointed out that a number of cases were exposed to more than one type of abuse. There were 80 cases of physical abuse, 19 cases of sexual abuse, 136 cases of verbal or emotional abuse, 103 cases of neglect, 82 cases of financial abuse, and 22 cases of domestic violence.
She confirmed that 84 cases involved abuse by the husband, 35 cases by the father, 16 cases by the mother, eight cases by ex-husbands, seven cases by strangers, four cases by the employer, three cases by brothers, two cases by friends, and one case each of the stepmother and stepfather.
Most of the new cases received during the first quarter of this year came directly from the foundation’s 800 111 help line or SMS 5111, or email: help@dfwac.ae, or in person. Some 36 cases were referred by the Dubai Police, 12 cases by relatives, eight cases through the embassies, and the rest of the cases by other government agencies and private sector entities.
