The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund has praised an initiative by Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, President of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood, to establish an advisory board for children in the UAE.
Al Tayyeb Adam, Unicef Representative in the Gulf region, said the launch of the board is a “significant step forward” on the path of ensuring the principle of integration enshrined in the Child Rights Law, also known as Wadeema's Law.
The law – named after Wadeema, an eight-year-old Emirati girl who was tortured to death by her father and another suspect in 2012 – sets out the legal rights of all minors in the UAE, and is designed to protect children from birth to age 18 from a variety of forms of abuse, including physical, verbal and psychological.
The board will encourage all departments in the UAE to ensure the rights of children.
Sheikha Fatima is also chairwoman of the General Women's Union and Supreme Chairwoman of the Family Development Foundation.
