Dubai Police responded to 42 cases of child abuse by parents in just one month during the current school year.
One of these cases involved a child being burned, which led to the summoning of the mother and the father before Public Prosecution, said Captain Mohammed Naji Al Awlaki, Director of the Women and Children Protection Department at the General Directorate for Human Rights.
In the other cases, the guardians signed an undertaking not to abuse their children in the future. Their cases are being supervised by counselors.
"The cases were reported by government entities, private and public schools and care homes, and three of the victims filed complaints themselves by calling the Operations Room," Capt Al Awlaki told Al Ittihad, the Arabic-language sister paper of The National.
He added that only one case of child molestation was reported during the same period, where a child was sexually abused by a relative of his mother. The case was referred to the police and then to the Public Prosecution and classified as criminal.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
