SHARJAH // Children protection helpline numbers should be unified along with a database for more accurate statistics, officials said.
Ahmad Al Tartour, director of Sharjah Child Helpline, said a unified helpline number would allow for the registration of every call and for a unified database to log information regarding the cases.
“We have worked on unifying the numbers to 116, which is known internationally as the child protection helpline, but we weren’t successful,” he said during the second child protection helpline operators’ meeting on Wednesday.
“On the plus side, Abu Dhabi child protection helpline 111116 was launched last year, but we still hope to unify them.”
In the first quarter of this year, the Sharjah Child Helpline received 186 child abuse reports, most of which involved Arab or Emirati families, according to Mr Al Tartour. Last year, 478 reports were recorded.
Fatima Al Zaabi, head of the child services department at the Community Development Authority in Dubai, said a unified child protection number would make it easier for everyone in the country to memorise.
“One number would help all people memorise it regardless in which emirate they reside. Currently, each helpline has a different number and residents need to memorise [all of] them.”
Ms Al Zaabi said that the Dubai child helpline, 800988, received 145 child abuse reports last year. Of those cases, 31 involved physical abuse, 22 sexual abuse, 27 psychological abuse, and 37 were cases categorised as child neglect or rights violations.
“The more calls we receive on the child helpline, [the more it] means that people are aware of the services and protection we provide for the children,” Ms Al Zaabi said.
Meanwhile, the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children said that they had received more than 3,000 calls in 2015 via their helpline, 800111. Of 3,461 reports, 96 were cases of child abuse.
“The foundation provided shelter for 29 women with their children last year, and we also took in 10 children who were abused,” said Atiyat Hussein.
Mr Al Tartour said protection services dealt with every child-abuse report differently, depending on the nature of the case.
“We look at each case and evaluate it. If the abused child needs protection, we sometimes put him in the custody of the Sharjah social services, and other times we place the child in the custody of other family members until the problem is resolved.”
Mr Al Tartour said that all sexual-abuse reports were dealt with in coordination with the police.
tzriqat@thenational.ae
