Shaikha Al Mansouri, Assistant Director-General for Corporate Support at the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children, DFWAC, has revealed that the foundation is working on a policy to combat violence against women in Dubai, and this proposal will be raised to the concerned authorities upon completion, as the foundation is collecting data to analyse the reality of violence against women in Dubai.

This came during Al Mansouri's opening speech of the Focus Groups Session about the policy of combating violence against women in Dubai, organised by DFWAC recently at its headquarters, with the participation of 50 specialists in the legal, psychological, social, medical, media and economic fields, and from different entities that are related directly or indirectly to the cause.

She added that Dubai, and the UAE in general, is determined to maintain its lead in the region in the field of protection of women's rights and strengthen their position in the community, and present a role model in facing violence against women through the development of a clear policy based on scientific and methodological grounds.

She said that DFWAC made contact with various stakeholders in Dubai to conduct interviews with specialists to collect sufficient information to prepare an accurate database which can be reliable during the preparation of the policy of combating violence against women in Dubai, after conducting necessary discussions about it through the Focus Groups session.

She added that the aim of this session is to help DFWAC to put its hands on the most prominent means of combating violence against women as well as the possible challenges in this field in legal, social, psychological, media and other related areas.

Al Mansouri explained that the session is also looking into how to enhance the cooperation with the private sector in this field, and to strengthen the role of social responsibility by discussing their vision in this field through the participation of a number of representatives from this sector.

She said, "We are happy to see this big interest in the cause of violence against women from this number of participants of different sectors in this sessions, which will be reflected positively on the outputs of the views and proposals that will contribute effectively in the preparation of an effective policy to face violence against women in Dubai."

Al Mansouri added that violence against women is not a phenomenon in the UAE society because of the great support and attention given to them by UAE government, but it is an existing problem all over the world that needs to be confronted by suitable policies so as to limit its spread in the future.

The session included five main groups of legal specialists, psychologists, social workers and doctors, and a number of media representatives, and a CSR specialists, in addition to a mixed group.

The Legal Group discussed during the meeting the proposed actions and mechanisms for the development of laws and regulations on the protection of women in Dubai, and identify actors that can actively participate in the development of legislation and laws on the protection of women. The group also looked at means to identify the most prominent legal aspects that need to be developed for the protection of abused women as well as the major challenges that can limit the development of legislative and legal process in this context.
Source: WAM