Dubai Foundation for Women and Children receives 329 victims of abuse in 2015

The Dubai Foundation for Women and Children, DFWAC, has announced that during the first quarter of 2015, it received 329 new cases of victims of domestic violence, child abuse, human trafficking and other humanitarian cases from different nationalities.

Afra Al Basti, Director-General of the Foundation, who made the announcement, also said that the cases include 107 victims of domestic violence, 34 victims of child abuse, and 9 cases of human trafficking victims. The foundation also helped 179 others facing humanitarian situations, including those suspected of being trafficked, by providing financial aid and counseling, in addition to the cases that are still receiving care and rehabilitation services since last year.

Al Basti added that the foundation receives victims of abuse from various nationalities living in the UAE, and its role is not limited to the care and rehabilitation of victims of physical abuse but it opens its doors to the victims of all other types of abuse, such as verbal abuse, neglect and financial abuse and others.

Al Basti said that the level of awareness on issues of violence against women and children is increasing day after day in the UAE community as a result of the awareness efforts that made by DFWAC along with its concerned partners within the UAE, which is reflected on the growing number of counseling requests received daily by the organisation.

The Director-General added that the confidence of community members in the institution continues to increase as a result of DFWAC's continuous keenness to develop its services in accordance with best international practices, and maintaining the privacy of all customer’s data, which encourages the victims of abuse to ask for help from the foundation to get the needed assistance and support from specialists.

Al Basti went on to say that the new cases included 61 internal cases that received care and rehabilitation services in the foundation’s shelter, and 268 external cases who received the same services but were not in need of shelter because of the availability of alternative accommodation.

Among the new cases, 117 were Emirati nationals, 205 cases from other nationalities, and 7 cases with unknown nationalities. There were 274 women, 55 men, and 50 children.

Regarding the types of abuse, Al Basti said that a number of cases were exposed to more than one type of abuse, with 80 cases of physical abuse,19 cases of sexual abuse, 136 case of verbal or emotional abuse, 103 cases of neglect, 82 cases of financial abuse, and 22 cases of domestic violence.

Al Basti also confirmed that in 84 cases, the perpetrators were husbands, in 35 cases they were fathers, 16 cases of abuse by mothers, and 8 cases by an ex-husband. In addition, 7 cases involved strangers, 4 by an employer, 3 cases of abuse by brothers, 2 cases involving friends, and one case of each against a stepmother and stepfather, pointing out that some cases have been subjected to abuse from more than one person.

She added that about 246 of the new cases during the first quarter of this year asked for help directly through the foundation's 800 111 helpline or SMS 5111, or e-mail: help@dfwac.ae, or in person by going to DFWAC's headquarters.

Afra Al Basti also said that during the first quarter of this year, the helpline received 787 calls, including 87 calls related to victims of abuse.