Major General Nasser Lakhrebani Al Nuaimi, Secretary General of the Office of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior; Chairman of the Supreme Committee for Child Protection at the Ministry of Interior, expressed his deep regret for the death of a three-year old child of suffocation, after being accidentally left in his family car for about three hours, in Ozon area, in Ras Al-Khaimah.
Al Nuaimi added that the Ministry of Interior deeply regrets such incidents that recently claimed the lives of children and led to serious injuries; stressing the need for concerted efforts to promote child protection.
Moreover, he stressed the keenness of the Supreme Committee to follow up on these incidents, which demonstrate parents’ neglect. He also called for caution and vigilance to avoid the risks posed by these seasonal incidents that occur mostly during summer months.
Major General Al Nuaimi gave examples of previous similar incidents that claimed the lives of children, namely; burning to death after being left unattended inside a running car, involving a two-year old child and a 28-year old Arab woman in a fire that broke out in the Jimi area, in the city of Al Ain; death of a four-year old GCC child, after sustaining burns in different parts of his body, when a fire completely engulfed his family home in the area of Julfar in Ras Al Khaimah; theft of a vehicle with a one-month old child on board in Sharjah; and most recently, death of a five-year old child who succumbed to the injuries he sustained after falling from the window of an apartment located on the third floor in Al Khalidiya, Abu Dhabi.
Al Nuaimi pointed out that caring for children and protecting them from risks is a major responsibility that parents need to assume to the fullest. He indicated that suffocation accidents involving children reflect neglect of families and the lack of awareness of the potential risks; underscoring the need to expand the scope of family responsibility, by reviewing its decisions when choosing furniture and children's toys, which proved to be a major cause of the fires and accidental suffocation that occurred recently.
He added that children do not realize the risks surrounding them; and this is where the role of parents becomes critical in protecting children from themselves and from others. “The role played by families is so vital in this regard, and we hope that such accidents do not happen in the future and waste the lives of those innocent children,” he continued.
For his part, Lieutenant Colonel Faisal Mohammed Al-Shammari, Director of the Ministry of Interior’s Child Protection Center, emphasized the need to increase awareness for families and various segments of society; calling on parents to assume their responsibilities towards their children, by taking safety precautions to reduce accidents involving children, especially in vehicles. Moreover, he explained that these incidents have occurred repeatedly lately, because some parents neglect public safety and child protection requirements.
It is noteworthy that the Ministry of Interior’s Child Protection Center had previously implemented an extensive awareness campaign in collaboration with competent authorities to protect children from risks. Furthermore, the Center has prepared a number of activities and events on this year’s agenda, aimed at enhancing child protection against risks, in coordination with the relevant authorities in the State.
