1. Home
  2. Sharjah film celebrates first anniversary as 'Child Friendly City'

Sharjah film celebrates first anniversary as 'Child Friendly City'

Agencies
May 11, 2019

Sharjah, May 11: The Sharjah Baby Friendly Office, SBFO, has released a short film to celebrate the first anniversary of the emirate being named a 'Child Friendly City' by the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF.

The film was released on several TV channels popular among UAE viewers, receiving an overwhelming response, with almost 200,000 views on YouTube alone within four days of its release.

Through the video, SBFO aims to highlight Sharjah's efforts in ensuring children's wellbeing in a safe environment that safeguards their rights and meets their needs, through facilities that encourage play and learning. The video also highlights emirate's keenness to promote book culture among children and youth, as World Book Capital 2019.

The music video production depicts a girl who tells the story of her city of Sharjah and features various child-friendly aspects of the city. The film points out the virtues of allowing children to be themselves and express their thoughts and opinions, via the many landmarks of Sharjah. It also pays tribute to teachers and educators as sources of inspiration for children.

HH Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, is also depicted as a role model for generations, and whose virtues everybody aspires to emulate within the short film.

The simple yet meaningful lyrics by Kuwaiti writer Heba Hamada is set to music by Kuwaiti composer Bashar Al Shatti.

Sharjah was named a Child Friendly City by UNICEF in May 2018 in recognition of its outstanding efforts and accomplishments in the protection and promotion of children's rights. It was the first city in the Middle East to receive the prestigious title, and the first in the world to win the title after successfully meeting the new international requirements and criteria launched by UNICEF's global Child Friendly Cities initiative in May last year, to ensure the fulfilment of children's rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Continuing its drive to elevate and protect the wellbeing of children in the emirate, SBFO has put in place a 2019-2021 executive action plan with a five-goal focus for children and youth. The goals are: that children and youth are valued, respected and treated equally within their communities and by local authorities; they have their voice, needs and priorities heard and taken into account in public laws, policies, and decisions that affect them; they have access to basic essential services; they live in a safe, secure and clean environment; they have opportunities to enjoy family life, play and leisure.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
July 28,2020

Dubai, Jul 28: Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) (ADCB.AD) is letting go hundreds of employees, sources said, the latest in a round of lay-offs by regional banks as pressure mounts to cut costs amid lower oil prices and the coronavirus crisis.

The UAE’s third-biggest lender is laying off 400 employees, two sources familiar with the matter said, after it had committed to not cutting staff because of the crisis.

In a statement, a spokesman said ADCB had pursued efficiency over the last decade by managing out its lowest underachievers after regular reviews, while ensuring talent was deployed in high-growth areas, such as digital banking.

“A certain number of redundancies are therefore expected every year in the normal course of business,” the bank spokesman added.

The sources said the cuts would involve ADCB’s consumer business and several in top management were among those being let go. One source said the bank was looking to close 20 branches.

In March, ADCB had declared, “No employee will be made redundant during 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

UAE banks have been hit by government measures to rein in the spread of the virus, forcing many businesses to shut temporarily.

Last week, Dubai’s largest bank, Emirates NBD, reported a slump of 58% in profits. In June, sources told Reuters the bank started a new round of hundreds of lay-offs.

In May, ADCB reported a fall of 84% in first-quarter net profit as it took impairments of $292 million on debt exposure to troubled hospital operator NMC Health and payments group Finablr.

It was a major lender, with an exposure of about $981 million, to NMC Health, which went into administration this year after months of turmoil following questions over financial reporting.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
June 28,2020

Kuwait, Jun 28: Measures imposed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus in Kuwait are believed to have increased suicide cases in the country, according to a media report.

Forty suicide cases and 15 failed attempts, mainly among Asian expatriates, have been recorded in Kuwait since late February, Gulf News quoted the Al Qabas newspaper report, citing sources as saying on Saturday.

Investigations into the majority of cases have revealed that those who committed suicide had experienced psychological and economic troubles due to dire financial circumstances after their employers stopped to pay them as a result of economic fallout from the coronavirus-related measures.

In one case, an expat livestreamed his suicide while chatting with his fiancee on a social networking platform, the newspaper report said.

Suicide cases have increased by around 40 per cent since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, according to the sources.

Some 70 to 80 suicide cases are recorded annually in Kuwait. Last year, they reached 80 suicides against 77 in 2018.

"Suicide cases have started to go up in Kuwait during the coronavirus pandemic due to fear, anxiety, isolation and instability experienced by people and absence of daily aims that could help the person to spend time regularly as before," the newspaper quoted social psychology consultant Samira Al Dosari as saying.

Uncertainty for some expatriates, whose countries have refused to take them in, is another motive for attempting suicide, according to Jamil Al Muri, a sociology professor at the Kuwait University.

"This is in addition to greed of the iqamat traders, who have brought into the country workers in names of phantom companies and abandoned them on the streets," he added.

Starting from Tuesday, Kuwait will embark on the second phase of a stepwise plan to bring life to normal, Gulf News reportd.

According to Phase 2, a nationwide night-time curfew will be reduced by one hour to run daily from 8 p.m. until 5 a.m. for three weeks.

Kuwait has so far reported 44,391 COVID-19 cases, with 344 deaths.

Comments

Angry indian
 - 
Tuesday, 30 Jun 2020

YA ALLah save all dispressed people in the earth..

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 25,2020

Riyadh, Mar 25: A 46-year-old man died of coronavirus in Saudi Arabia, becoming the Kingdom’s second death, according to a health ministry’s spokesman.

The health ministry recorded 133 new infections, bringing the total to 900.

Of those newly confirmed cases, 18 are associated with recent travel, and were placed in quarantine upon their arrival in the Kingdom, the spokesman said.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.