Ministry calls for child abuse law to be expedited



ABU DHABI // The Ministry of Social Affairs called on the Ministry of Justice yesterday to push through the Child Rights Act. The Act, which would be the first comprehensive legal document devoted to children, was submitted to the MoJ in September and has been under review since. The MoJ is expected to submit a draft to the Federal National Council for review, after which it would require the President's signature before becoming law.

The director of the child department at the Ministry of Social affairs, Moza Alshoomi, said. "We urge the Ministry of Justice to expedite the process of submitting the draft law to the FNC. "As we have seen in the past weeks, this is a pressing matter and it deserves national attention." Talk of the draft law surfaced in the media following the case of a nine-year-old child who had been severely abused by her father and stepmother. The child, who is still recovering in hospital, was beaten to the point of being 80 per cent physically disabled.

On Tuesday her abusers had their prison sentences reduced from 10 to seven years by the Abu Dhabi Court of Appeal. The draft law would establish social workers who would focus on the well-being of children. "While this would be a federal law, the implementation would be up to each emirate," said Ms Alshoomi. "They know how to apply it best." The law would give social workers the power to remove children from homes where there was severe child abuse. "We have tried to keep the police out of this because sending police inside our homes is very foreign to our way of thinking.

"They would only be involved if there is a crime. The importance is that the social workers will examine every case on its own merit." Although ideas about child discipline vary from household to household, Ms Alshoomi insisted that "we are not talking about spanking or discipline, we are talking about abuse. That can be emotional as much as physical. That is why social workers will examine each case individually."

The law would create an offence of child abuse, with jail terms for those found guilty. People who witnessed child abuse and failed to report it would face a fine. The law would apply to all children, irrespective of race, religion or sex. Although the draft law could face criticism and change once it comes under the scrutiny of the FNC, Ms Alshoomi said she hoped the recent case of the abused child would ring in the hearts of FNC members.

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Indoor cricket in a nutshell

Indoor Cricket World Cup – Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai

16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side

8 There are eight players per team

There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.

5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls

Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership

Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.

Zones

A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs

B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run

Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs

Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full

FIXTURES

Fixtures for Round 15 (all times UAE)

Friday
Inter Milan v AS Roma (11.45pm)
Saturday
Atalanta v Verona (6pm)
Udinese v Napoli (9pm)
Lazio v Juventus (11.45pm)
Sunday
Lecce v Genoa (3.30pm)
Sassuolo v Cagliari (6pm)
SPAL v Brescia (6pm)
Torino v Fiorentina (6pm)
Sampdoria v Parma (9pm)
Bologna v AC Milan (11.45pm)

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The Bio

Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”

Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”

Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”

Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”

German plea
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the German parliament that. Russia had erected a new wall across Europe. 

"It's not a Berlin Wall -- it is a Wall in central Europe between freedom and bondage and this Wall is growing bigger with every bomb" dropped on Ukraine, Zelenskyy told MPs.

Mr Zelenskyy was applauded by MPs in the Bundestag as he addressed Chancellor Olaf Scholz directly.

"Dear Mr Scholz, tear down this Wall," he said, evoking US President Ronald Reagan's 1987 appeal to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.

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COMPANY PROFILE

Company: Bidzi

● Started: 2024

● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid

● Based: Dubai, UAE

● Industry: M&A

● Funding size: Bootstrapped

● No of employees: Nine

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Quarter-finals

Saturday (all times UAE)

England v Australia, 11.15am 
New Zealand v Ireland, 2.15pm

Sunday

Wales v France, 11.15am
Japan v South Africa, 2.15pm

Singham Again

Director: Rohit Shetty

Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone

Rating: 3/5

Moon Music

Artist: Coldplay

Label: Parlophone/Atlantic

Number of tracks: 10

Rating: 3/5

EMILY%20IN%20PARIS%3A%20SEASON%203
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TRAP

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue

Director: M Night Shyamalan

Rating: 3/5

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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THE LOWDOWN

Romeo Akbar Walter

Rating: 2/5 stars
Produced by: Dharma Productions, Azure Entertainment
Directed by: Robby Grewal
Cast: John Abraham, Mouni Roy, Jackie Shroff and Sikandar Kher 

Company%20Profile
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Pathaan
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The specs

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Transmission: ten-speed

Power: 420bhp

Torque: 624Nm

Price: Dh325,125

On sale: Now


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