People of Determination hold a prominent place in UAE’s priorities. The leadership has left no stone unturned when it comes to empowering the determined ones. The underlying idea has always been to enable them play an integral part in the country’s development.

The “People of Determination Protection From Abuse” Policy that was approved at the beginning of the year is a path-breaking initiative.

The policy details, elaborated by the Ministry of Community Development on Wednesday, well highlight the depth of the proposals and the earnestness with which the policy makers seek to encourage the people of determination.

The policy has been framed according to three pillars: Protection against abuse, early detection of abuse, and intervention and rehabilitation.

The policy includes 20 initiatives to be implemented by several ministries, federal and government authorities, sports councils, public non-benefit associations, entities and centres related to People of Determination.

It also identified the forms of abuse, which may be committed deliberately or as a result of negligence, ignorance and lack of insight.

The new policy was based following legislations and achievements in the UAE: The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2008, Federal Law No. 29 2006 concerning the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Federal Law No. 03 of 2016 concerning Child Rights ‘Wadeema’ and the Policy for Empowering People of Determination in 2017, as per Nasser Ismail, Assistant Under-Secretary of Social Care.

The “abuse prevention” pillar includes three goals: Achievement of a legislative system that protects People of Determination from abuse in the UAE, clear mechanisms to protect them from abuse and enable them to overcome it, and to establish a database for those exposed to abuse depending on its type, as explained by Wafa Hamad Bin Sulaiman; Director of Welfare & Rehabilitation Department for People of Determination.

This pillar leads to several initiatives under the new policy: Developing and implementing legislation and policies related to the rights and protection of People of Determination; hotline, family empowerment and protection from abuse, strengthen abuse prevention services, training and empowerment of People of Determination, training of caregivers and service providers; and training of competent authorities, and self-advocacy groups.

The “Abuse Early Detection” pillar highlighted two goals: Access to clear reporting and detection tools about any type of abuse to enable People of Determination, relatives, and service providers to use a monitoring system to ensure the early detection of abuse cases of People of Determination in various institutions and facilities.

The “Intervention and Rehabilitation” pillar stresses on three goals: Rehabilitation programmes for abused People of Determination to alleviate the effects of abuse on long-term and short-term bases, unify intervention and rehabilitation mechanisms by service providers in various entities and provide societal resources to support abused People of Determination.

There are no borders for UAE’s compassion. The Zayed Higher Organisation for People of Determination, ZHO, recently launched the initiative, “Bridges of Hope to Support People of Determination”, in cooperation with the Emirates Red Crescent, ERC, for the Syrian refugee families of People of Determination at the Mrajeeb Camp in Jordan, as part of the ZHO’s efforts to support People of Determination in foreign countries by collaborating with the ERC’S projects.

The initiative provides 148 families of Syrian “refugees with determination” guidance to mitigate psychological pressures and stress and provide families with background information, practical training sessions, and psychological and social counselling.

The world should stand by people of determination and the UAE offers a perfect model.