FNC passes mandatory breastfeeding clause for Child Rights law



ABU DHABI // The Federal National Council has passed a clause in the Child Rights law requiring mothers to breastfeed – despite concerns from a minister.

The council’s session on Tuesday continued a marathon debate on the legislation, during which the Minister of Social Affairs, Mariam Al Roumi, said such a law could lead to husbands suing their wives if they did not breastfeed.

“This part of the law can be a burden,” she said. “If the law forced women to breastfeed, this could lead to new court cases.”

Salem Al Ameri (Abu Dhabi) insisted that breastfeeding was a right for all children, as mentioned in Islam.

Dr Amal Al Qubaisi (Abu Dhabi) said that because labour laws already allow working women to take time to breastfeed, adding the requirement to the legislation showed consistency.

The clause was added to the law once it was passed to the council’s health, labour and social affairs committee for review.

Sultan Al Sammahi (Fujairah), a member of the committee, said it was the right of all children to be breast fed up to the age of 2.

It remains unclear how the law could be enforced, and Mr Al Sammahi suggested that if complications arose or mothers were neglecting their duties, they could be punished.

Ahmed Al Shamsi (Ajman) said the clause aimed to help nurture a strong relationship between a mother and her child.

He said the law’s intention was that breastfeeding should be a duty and not an option for able mothers.

Members also tried to add a number of rights for working women into the law but were refused by the minister.

The committee wanted a clause mandating the Government help working women to protect their children and to ensure all workplaces had a nursery, but Ms Al Roumi said this would be problematic because of the vagueness of the language.

“I am not against working women but there are seven laws on working women,” she said. “We cannot talk about working women here and ignore stay-at-home mothers.”

She reminded members that the law was on children’s rights and not the rights of mothers.

“The Government should not be held responsible for everything,” Ms Al Roumi said. “This clause is too big and clashes with other laws.”

Some members insisted on the article’s importance but others were happy for it to be removed.

The minister told members that a law on nurseries would be referred to them soon.

Since a decision was taken for nurseries to be built at federal and government entities, there had been a 360 per cent increase in them.

Members eventually agreed to remove the working women clause and to wait for the nurseries law.

osalem@thenational.ae

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Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

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Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
57%20Seconds
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Vidaamuyarchi

Director: Magizh Thirumeni

Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra

Rating: 4/5

 

Race results:

1. Thani Al Qemzi (UAE) Team Abu Dhabi: 46.44 min

2. Peter Morin (FRA) CTIC F1 Shenzhen China Team: 0.91sec

3. Sami Selio (FIN) Mad-Croc Baba Racing Team: 31.43sec

Emergency

Director: Kangana Ranaut

Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry 

Rating: 2/5

World Cup warm-up fixtures

Friday, May 24:

  • Pakistan v Afghanistan (Bristol)
  • Sri Lanka v South Africa (Cardiff)

Saturday, May 25

  • England v Australia (Southampton)
  • India v New Zealand (The Oval, London)

Sunday, May 26

  • South Africa v West Indies (Bristol)
  • Pakistan v Bangladesh (Cardiff)

Monday, May 27

  • Australia v Sri Lanka (Southampton)
  • England v Afghanistan (The Oval, London)

Tuesday, May 28

  • West Indies v New Zealand (Bristol)
  • Bangladesh v India (Cardiff)
Game Changer

Director: Shankar 

Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram

Rating: 2/5