The office of Law Respect Culture in the General Secretariat of the Office of H.H. Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Interior participated in the First Emirati Youth Conference held recently under the title “Youth: Between Affecting and Being Affected,” which is within the Sixth Emirati Youth Forum organized by the Youth Centers in Sharjah, under the slogan “United in Responsibility.”
Lt. Colonel Dr. Salah Obeid Al Ghoul, Director of the Law Respect Culture Office, presented a paper titled: “The role of law in protecting youths from intellectual influences” in which he highlighted the concept of law respect culture and the relationship between the law and the individual. He then presented models of some laws that illustrate the legislator’s view regarding the protection of youth at all levels.
Dr. Al Ghoul explained that for some individuals there is confusion in some concepts of the law respect culture. He added that the legal culture is about raising awareness on the provisions of the law. The culture of law respect is based on establishing a firm conviction in individuals that respect of law is a value in itself similar to the values of rightness and goodness; he also highlighted the benefit that law brings to the entire humanity in that the law protects people’s rights and freedoms and establishes justice and equality. He stipulated that due to the many benefits of law, individuals ought to pay it respect without a monitoring.
He further stated that the Office of Law Respect Culture seeks to make the relationship between the individual and law more positive to bring the individual closer to the law based on his own conviction. If this culture and conviction existed, the individual would not violate the law even with the absence of law enforcement.
“Law was born from the womb of society; that is to say it came to life due to need or necessity brought by the social and economic circumstances of societies; law is not something incidental or forced upon a society by a certain category of society over another. Law dates back to the existence of humans on this earth,” added Al Ghoul.
Al Ghoul clarified that legislation is the essence of law: if law was a large pot that contains all the beliefs of society’s customs, traditions, religious beliefs, and complements other rules of behavior, legislation that is chosen from this pot are the most important rules that relate to the higher interests of society as one entity, which achieves the public good in a written and fully-organized form.
Under the subtitle of “legal highlights about the youth,” Dr. Al Ghoul referred to legal examples related to youth such as cybercrimes; many are unaware of the provisions of the law of these crimes and thus they could violate it unknowingly. They may also fall victim to violators who may make use of the fact that others are unaware of the law or do not have sufficient legal culture.
He also explained the concept of electronic forging of official documents, as well as impersonating other persons or positions thereby committing fraud or falsifying or trespassing upon the privacy of others.
Lt. Colonel Dr. Salah Al Ghoul referred to some crimes that are common in the use of IT such as the internet and mobile phones. He added that the purpose behind such laws is to protect the youth and their personal data, and criminalize any action that seeks to violate their freedoms.
He also shed light on some traffic laws making it clear to youth that the purpose of enacting laws is to protect their lives and secure their safety on all levels. Enacting or modifying such laws does not occur haphazardly; rather it is done according to scientific methodologies tha