His Highness also instructed to rename the proposed law as “Wadeema Law” ascribing to the eight-year-old girl “Wadeema” who was tortured to death by her father and his girlfriend and whose case shook the entire country.

The new law adopted by the Council of Ministers contains (72) Articles that consists of all the rights of the children guaranteed by the international instruments in accordance with the provisions of Islamic Sharia as well as the principles of the UAE constitution. The law includes fundamental rights, family rights, health, educational, cultural and social rights of the child, in addition to the right of the child to protection and mechanisms of providing protection to the child along with an entire chapter about the penalties.

It is pertinent to mention that even prior to the adoption of the new proposed law, there existed a legal framework for the protection of child rights in the country, which is based on the Article No. (15) of the constitution. The said article stipulates that the family is the basis of society, and its foundation is religion, morality and patriotism. These constitutional provisions are further strengthened and implemented by the Personal Status Law No. (28) of the year 2005. The said law emphasizes on the need for mutual respect between the spouses and the duty of care towards children and their up- bringing to ensure their noble up- bringing with the protection provided by the law. The law also provides for mothers’ natural right to the custody of the children. In addition to these provisions, there are other laws such as the Federal Penal Code No. (3) of the year 1978 and the Federal Law of Criminal Procedure No. 35 for the year 1992, as well as the Juvenile and Delinquents Act and the law of parentage.

However, the UAE government and lawmakers realized the need for having a unified legal framework to provide specialized protection under one legal text that was earlier provided by other legal provisions. The other important consideration that led to the adoption of Wadeema Law, is the rising importance of child rights in the international context. In fact, UAE itself has ratified the International Convention for the Rights of the Children and its principles, as were formulated in World Summit for Children held in New York in 1992 and adopted by the United Nations.

Some of the key features of the draft law include the following:

• Anyone who tortures a child, puts their life in danger or causes them any illtreatment would be fined Dh400, 000.
• Sexual abuse and exploitation, and abusing a child for pornography will carry jail sentences of no less than 10 years. After release, offenders will not be allowed within five kilometers of the child they abused, and will be barred from working with children.
• In all cases, offenders will only be released after psychological tests to ensure they are no further threat to society. Doctors, social workers, child careers and others who deal with children who fail to report suspected child abuse cases will face jail and fines.
• Adults approached by an abused child will have a duty to alert authorities. Failure to do so will see fines of Dh 5,000 to Dh 50,000.
• The law will apply to all children up to the age of 18.

Out of the above, the most important feature is that it makes mandatory to report about suspected child abuse and it applies to doctors, teachers and anyone else dealing with children. This particular feature is particularly noteworthy as it provides for an additional protection that was missing under the Federal Penal Code, which punishes the direct offender and the partner in crime, but does not apply to those relatives who have knowledge of such crime, but fail to report the same. In a recent development, it has been suggested to increase the scope of the application of the proposed law to nursery schools operating in the country.

The proposed law is a landmark legal development. Once implemented, the law might face certain challenges like any other law, but lawmakers and the rulers of UAE are confident that after successful implementation, the law will certainly bring a new legal and social era in the country.