Today's Edition
ABU DHABI (ALETIHAD)
The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (ADJD) organised a workshop titled “Child-Friendly Justice and Child Protection Policy in Sports Institutions” as part of the “Year of Community 2025” initiatives, continuing its efforts to strengthen the child rights protection framework in line with the highest international standards.
The workshop was held via the Abu Dhabi Judicial Academy’s virtual platform, with broad participation from representatives of sports institutions, relevant government entities, and a number of specialists in childhood, education, and protection from within the UAE and abroad.
This initiative aims to enhance institutional and community awareness of child protection policies and to promote the concept of child-friendly justice, particularly in sports environments where children interact daily with technical and administrative staff. Discussions focused on reviewing the legal and procedural aspects of protection policies in sports clubs and explaining mechanisms for their implementation in accordance with the Federal Law on Child Rights and relevant international conventions.
The workshop also addressed the importance of integrating child-friendly justice principles into sports environments by respecting the child’s privacy, ensuring their active participation in shaping related procedures, developing the capacities of personnel in sports institutions to handle cases of abuse or neglect, and fostering a culture of protection within families and society.
Several recommendations were presented to improve protection procedures, most notably the need to verify the conduct of employees and volunteers in sports clubs before granting them permits to work with children, establishing a unified electronic channel between the judiciary and sports bodies for receiving confidential reports and preserving digital evidence in coordination with the Family and Child Prosecution, and preparing a simplified procedural guide that takes into account the age and psychological characteristics of children during testimony.
This workshop forms part of a series of ongoing initiatives implemented by the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department since launching the “Child-Friendly Justice” initiative in 2021, which has included developing child-sensitive investigation environments, providing advanced training programmes for specialists, and strengthening institutional partnerships with relevant national and international entities.
