Children rights conference commences in Dubai

Dubai: The UAE has ensured children’s rights in its laws and constitution and continues to do so, as children are a country’s true wealth, the Dubai Police Chief said.

Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina was speaking at the opening of the first edition of Dubai Police’s ‘Voices of Childhood’ conference, on Wednesday.

The conference, which runs today and tomorrow (April 29-30), is being held under the patronage of Shaikh Mansour Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

The conference, he said, takes a new approach by allowing children to speak freely about issues they may face and find solutions to these issues.

There were 29 working papers at the conference, which were presented by children aged 11-18.

Brigadier Dr Mohammad Al Murr, Director of the Human Rights Department at Dubai Police, said that they wanted to hear the children’s voices and problems.

“We want their opinions so that when we are discussing the national strategy, we can present those issues they spoke about. We choose this age group because children at that age are able to express themselves and have developed their own ideas,” he said.

The children were from various nationalities, including Emirati, Syrian, Egyptian, British, American, Jordanian and Iraqi.

“We contacted different schools and we initially received more than 70 entries, and the scientific panel of the conference picked the best of them according to the preset criteria.” Brig Al Murr added. He said that the panel met the children to ensure that they were the ones who wrote the papers.

From cases dealt with by the Women and Child Protection Department of the Human Rights Department, neglect and family problems are the two main sources of violence against children in the UAE, he said.

He said the UAE authorities are always working to ensure children’s rights. For instance the 24/7 Sharjah Children’s Helpline 800700 will soon become national, as representatives from each emirate’s police force will be part of it to handle cases in their respective emirate.