Sharjah: The spate of tragedies involving children who either fell from high-rises, were left behind in locked homes or otherwise placed in jeopardy that led to their deaths makes one question what can be done to stop the incidents from occurring. Parental responsibility is a given but what explains the repeated cases of oversight? While we can continue to raise awareness on child safety and make parents committed to minding their children at all times, these are medium to long-term solutions. What can be done with immediate effect to stop these tragedies?
In the UAE, there are strong laws for child negligence. The punishments can be fines or even a prison term. In one case, a mother had been sentenced by court to pay Dh3,000 fine and blood money for her child’s death due to negligence.
Yet, such punitive outcomes are fewer than imagined.
According to Sharjah Police, which has registered many such incidents, the cases are referred to public prosecution which decides the outcome — it either decides to drop the case or prosecute the parents.
Authorities will come down heavily on anyone, including family members, if a child is found to be neglected.
Several cases have been registered in Sharjah courts over the years but they were dropped, as parents had not intended to kill their children.
Brigadier Khalifa Kalander, Director of Comprehensive Police Stations at Sharjah Police, said that the incidents of children falling from high-rises that lead to death or cause serious injuries such as fractures or paralysis are all related to a lack of preventive measures taken by parents.
The fact that despite the many awareness campaigns and repeated warnings by the authorities, such incidents continue to take place means that “some parents don’t learn a lesson from such advice and guidance, and insist on repeating the mistakes made by other parents,” said Brigadier Kalander.
We call upon families and parents to shoulder the responsibility of protecting their children and take necessary measures to ensure their safety.
Colonel Sami Khamis Al Naqbi, Director-General of Sharjah Civil Defence, said the authorities will come down heavily on anyone, including family members, if a child is found to be neglected.
“There will be zero tolerance in such cases,” he said.
The department he said, receives various reports related to children at risk. They include cases of children being locked up in cars, inside rooms, bathrooms or being trapped in the elevator.
The prospect of punishment, he said, will force parents and property owners to take into consideration the preventive measures and implement them in order to combat the problem.
Three categories of danger for children
Moza Al Shoomi, deputy head of Emirates Child Protection Association, told Gulf News that negligence and the danger thereof is classified into three categories: Dangerous, moderate and minor.
Dangerous degree means putting the child’s right to staying alive in peril. “Who will held responsible if his right to live is taken away due to a fall from a balcony or window? We can’t blame the chair or the window for death of the child,” she said.
Who will be held responsible if their [children’s] right to live is taken away due to a fall? We can’t blame the chair or the window.
“The ones who should be held responsible are the parents or caregivers who left the children unattended, building owners who didn’t implement safety measures, and the municipalities, if it is found that the safety measures are not being implemented,” she said. “This is a child’s life and it is our responsibility to look after them and raise them in a safe environment.”
Al Shoomi said that despite awareness about accidents involving children, parents continue to repeat the mistakes.
Her suggestion to stop the repeated tragedies involving children is for municipalities to play a more vital role in implementing safety conditions with the buildings. How can we know which families need to be provided safety conditions?
“Link the tenancy contract with Emirates ID,” she says. “That will provide a rich databases on families and show if the family has kids or not in order to apply safety conditions to their flat.”
But punitive measures can go only so far. The tragedy has already occurred and child has lost their life. The most effective prevention, repeat all experts, is for parents to be constantly vigilant. This is the bedrock of child safety.
Lack of awareness in parents is still the big issue
Col Adil Al Mazmi, fire accidents expert, at forensic laboratory of Sharjah police, said that the investigations into recent fire accidents in villas, houses, and apartments reveal that negligence and lack of awareness led to many fire accidents and explosions.
The majority of domestic accidents could have been avoided with a little care and awareness of the potential dangers of some of the tools used by families, such as incense burners which are often left inside the clothes cupboard or in inflammable places. In one case, investigations revealed that a family was used to leaving hazardous materials, such a hot iron box, switched on and within reach of children.
Such incidents, he said, should force parents and property owners to take preventive measures. “Parents should supervise their children, make sure windows are closed and avoid keeping any objects that will help children climb on to windows and balconies,” he said.
Col Al Naqbi said parental neglect was the main cause of children falling from buildings, in addition to lack of building safety and security.
Such incidents, he said, should force parents and property owners to take preventive measures. “Parents should supervise their children, make sure windows are closed and avoid keeping any objects that will help children climb on to windows and balconies,” he said.
Such accidents, he said, occur more frequently during winter than in summer, as parents keep windows and doors to balconies open.
While the administration and government institutions promote community awareness and put systems in place to prevent mishaps involving children, the latter’s safety primarily rests on the shoulders of parents who need to stay alert at all times.
To curb these accidents, the Sharjah government introduced preventive measures in 2017 and amended the technical requirements for residential windows and balconies. The changes were made mandatory for landlords and contractors.
Hanadi Al Yafei, Director of Child Safety Department (CSD) believes constant parental supervision is non-negotiable: “We call upon families and parents to shoulder the responsibility of protecting their children and take necessary measures to ensure their safety. These incidents occur due to the lack of awareness of familie ... despite the multiple awareness campaigns and initiatives which have been launched nationwide to educate parents and caregivers on how to keep children safe at home.
The Child Safety Department, she said, continues to work with its partners at Sharjah Police, Sharjah City Municipality and a number of government departments to come up with more effective solutions to reduce such tragic accidents.
Child safety:
On a different note, child safety is also about keeping them free of abuse of any kind.
Amina Al Rifai , Director of Protection of Children’s Rights Administration at Sharjah Social Services Department, told Gulf News that the department, is fully committed to child safety.
The department’s child helpline 800700 is geared to offer children full care, especially for children deprived of social care. The hot line is the first free specialised contact to help children in the UAE. Any child can call the number to speak about their problem.
Al Rifai said protection of children is the responsibility of the family, as a family environment is what embraces a child and helps with the development of a formative core through parents ’care, attention, and responsibility towards their children, as well as their guidance and assistance.
After that comes the role of institutions concerned with children as a complementary and supportive role for the family.
The toll-free line, for instance, received 8575 calls since the beginning of this year till November and of these, 987 are actual reports, complaints regarding child abuse, sexual molestation and the rest on financial and legal problems.
The Sharjah Child Protection Department has filed several cases of child negligence with the public prosecution since the Wudeema Law came into effect.
The department is conducting awareness campaigns in schools and institutions in the emirate to make community members familiar with the Wudeema Law.
The UAE’s new Child Protection Law No 3 is popularly known as Wudeema Law. It makes it obligatory for all members of society to report to authorities any case of abuse of children’s rights.
Residents and schools are mandated to inform the authorities about any cases of mistreatment, or sexual or physical abuse of children by parents or by any other individual, said Al Rifai.
Social workers, have the right and power of attorney to enter a house where a child is believed to be abused. If the department receives information about a child being abused by his parent or any other person, after verifying the accuracy of the information, the social worker can visit the house and take the child to a safe place.
Social workers take permission from the minister of justice to carry out their responsibilities.
WHAT ELSE CAN BE DONE?
Some suggestions that would provide protection for the child:
- Intensify awareness for children through awareness programmes in schools and introduce the rights and duties of the child and the helpline numbers for reporting issues.
- Intensify awareness for the institutions and bodies concerned with the child by spreading the child protection policy and the reporting mechanism when children need to report and being abused.
- Educating families about the importance of protecting their children and its impact on raising a conscious generation
- Making family bonds closer between children and their parents to gain the trust of children and encourage them to discussion and openness.
(Amina Al Rifi and Moza Al Shoomi)
Mandatory safety measures:
- Raise the height of windows and balconies to 120cm, instead of 100cm
- Install safety locks to prevent windows from opening more than 5 to 10cm wide.
- Use railings that children cannot climb over.
- Put up a translucent acrylic barrier on balcony railings (requires a municipality permit).
(Col. Al Naqbi)
Main causes for negligence:
- There is an imbalance in one of the parents in bearing responsibility, marital disputes or the separation of the parents, and the children being neglected due to separation or frequent disputes and disputes after separation
- The methods of upbringing and raising among some families, either by spoiling of children or the severity associated with depriving them of their rights
- Leaving children with domestic workers or housemaid without supervision or follow-up for long periods.
- The family allows children to use games and electronic devices for a long time without supervision, or even to monitor games and programs that children use and interact with.
- Low income
(Amina Al Rifi and Moza Al Shoomi)
The penalty increases to three years if the child is left unattended at the time of an incident.
Falls from residential buildings involving children in Sharjah:
2012-15: 18 dead
2016: Six dead
2017: Three dead
2018: Two dead
2019: One dead, one injured
