Dubai: An educational campaign on the UAE’s Child Rights Law was launched on Tuesday targeting the entire social workers and teachers to equip them on what they should do if they notice any any abuse or negligence among the children they care for.

Dubai’s Community Development Authority (CDA) speaheads the campaign together with the Unicef and Dubai Judicial Institute.

With the theme “My right”, the campaign targets the childcare providers in all Dubai schools, dealing thw various provisioma of the law and highlighting several cases about child rights protection, abuse and negligence.

The workshops will also educate the participants about UN Convention on the Rights of the Child that the UAE signed on 1997.

Maitha Al Shamsi, CEO of the Human Rights Sector, at CDA, said spreading the knowledge of children’s rights and protecting them is everyone’s responsibility. She stressed that protecting children rights is not only about the children but about also about the safety of society and the prosperity of the future.

“Child protection is a special priority in the national agenda of the UAE, our country is committed to providing a safe environment that ensures serious development for children’s capabilities and talents; we take all the appropriate steps in the areas of health and education and in all fields to keep the psychological, social and cultural needs of children,” Al Shamsi said.

“The Wadeema Law, issued by the UAE Federal Government in 2016, shows that the UAE is keen to find a coherent legal background to ensure that children in the country have all their rights, and to get those who violate or neglect these rights accountable,” she added.

The Law, Al Shamsi said, has significantly contributed in supporting the childcare providers and strengthen the child protection system in the UAE, in accordance with the local Arabic and Islamic culture and our identity characterises.

Al Shamsi said awareness of children’s rights laws is the starting point for reaching a cohesive community system for child protection, since the child and the custodians cannot preserve their rights if they are not known, nor can they be prevented if their protection laws are not clear.

Dr. Essam Ali, Social Policy Specialist at Unicef Gulf Area Office, in his speech emphasised the importance of raising children’s awareness and the role of the UN in spreading this knowledge among communities and countries.

The campaign will start with a workshop that at the Dubai Judicial Institute for Social workers and School’s teachers. Through the workshop, the participants will learn the procedures that should be followed if any abuse or negligence is noted.

The awareness workshops will continue until the end of the year to include the largest possible number of children and their families in Dubai.