Victims welcome setting up of charity foundation

Dubai: An abused woman welcomed the setting up of the Dubai Women's and Children's Charity Foundation and said it will serve as a way to improve their situation.

The 25-year-old mother who was a victim of abuse from her husband, said the Foundation will serve as a way out from a difficult situation for such women.

His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, issued a law on Sunday setting up a charity body to care for women and child ren who are victims of abuse.

The foundation will not only offer shelter to abused women and children, but will also offer them psychological counselling and healthcare and help integrate them into society.

"My husband was an alcoholic and used to take his anger out on me and beat me up even when I was pregnant so I had to take refuge at a shelter for two months," said the woman.

Welcoming the new foundation, heads of charities and special needs schools, psychologists and human rights officials said that the foundation will go a long way in giving a sense of hope to battered women and children.

Lieutenant Colonel Dr Mohammad Al Murr, Director of Dubai Police's Human Rights Department, said they had received some cases and solved them in cooperation with charity organisations. He said with the new law, all women involved in those cases will be kept in an organised place until their cases are solved. This shows the government's policy to provide services for all residents, he added.

Nadia Al Sayegh, General Director of Senses Residential and Day Care for Special Needs in Dubai said that once established, the foundation will help solve a lot of problem that currently exist in our society in relation to abused women and children.

"I have been working in this field for a long time. In some instances, women were asked to leave their homes by their husbands and did not have any place to go," she said.

Accommodation

The foundation will give them accommodation. "Some of the women have crazy husbands who kick them out of the house. If the woman happens to be a foreigner she does not have her family here and is left unsheltered and confused unless she is approached by a social worker. The Foundation will make her feel safe," said Al Sayegh.

Dr Suad Al Marzouqi, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor at UAE University, told Gulf News that the foundation can effectively break the silence.

She has worked with many abused women and children, and has conducted several studies about the correlation between mental health and abuse. "I am glad Shaikh Mohammad presented this idea because now everybody will follow. I have spoken about this [issue] for many years but nobody spoke, even the victims. It is taboo," she said. Dr Suad said the foundation should have professionally-trained people who are able, not only to understand the complexities of the issue, but also to deal with various aspects of the problem appropriately and with sensitivity.

Mohammad Al Zarouni, director of the Red Crescent Society in Dubai said, "This foundation will give every charity organisation a sense of purpose and direction ... Shaikh Mohammad has shown us that no matter how busy we are in our day to day lives we should never ignore humanitarian causes."

Do you find that women's rights are getting a better hearing these days? Is it because of media exposure or because women are breaking their silence?