DUBAI // A child’s right to an education, health care, protection from abuse, negligence and exploitation is the focus of a campaign targeting university students across the Emirates.
The Community Development Authority (CDA) is launching a short-film competition to spread the message of children’s rights, including the rights of children with disabilities.
Road shows and workshops will begin on Tuesday at the American University of Dubai and will continue in universities in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.
“The purpose of this is to engage society in our work and encourage the involvement of youth in finding solutions and spreading awareness because this is crucial to creating a community that respects and protects human rights,” said Khaled Al Kamda, the director general of the CDA.
“Working on these videos will create a sense of connectivity between the youth and community issues.”
The competition is open to all nationalities who study at a UAE university.
Protection of children travelling in vehicles could be an area students explore, Mr Al Kamda said. “You see a mother holding a child in the front seat of a car or you see a family of four riding a motorcycle,” he said.
“You also see a child running around in the back seat when the parents are in the front seats. You see it on the road because there are cultures where it’s OK to have a child with the mother in the front; that’s normal in their own countries or culture. The abuse or neglect of putting the child in danger sometimes it doesn’t come from outside, it comes from the family.”
Safe practices and compliance must be introduced gradually, Mr Kamda said. “All this is evolving so you can’t come overnight and say, ‘No’ to families,” he said. “They believe, ‘I’m holding my baby so he is in no harm.’ This is the behaviour that needs to be highlighted by the films. We need to first make parents aware that this practice is not acceptable and then we need to impose restrictions to ensure the child is protected.
“We can begin by creating awareness and then other entities responsible for traffic can impose fines or restrictions on a child travelling in a car without a seat belt.”
Individuals or groups can compete in Arabic or English-language films between 3-5 minutes long. The four subjects cover children’s right to education, health care, protection from abuse, negligence and exploitation and the rights of children with disabilities
The competition will run until November 20 and the winners will be announced on December 10. Three winners will be chosen in each category by a jury of art and media professionals and awarded cash prices of Dh25,000, Dh20,000 and Dh15,000.
The CDA also plans to focus on the rights of the elderly and the disabled in continuing campaigns. “What we are trying to do is create an understanding and a culture to make society aware about protecting a child from neglect and also what constitutes neglect,” said Maitha Al Shamsi, chief executive of the CDA’s human rights sector.
“Workshops intend to engage students by explaining a child’s rights and hoping to ignite in them the passion for research and innovation to help develop their creative and technical skills.
“We’re hoping that engaging the creativity of students will help raise awareness and through short films we will be able to translate key child rights messages in ways that attract and educate a wider audience and ultimately contribute to the development of society.
“Encouraging youth to be directly involved in community issues and helping them build a sense of responsibility is one of the CDA’s aims.”
For more information visit http://www.cda.gov.ae/en/HumanRights/Pages/Student_Contest.aspx
rtalwar@thenational.ae