Interfaith Dialogue on Child Online Protection

During the opening ceremony, Lt. General HH Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior said: “We are gathered here today under the umbrella of peace, coexistence and tolerance, an approach that was inspired by the ideology, legacy and directives of the late Sheikh Zayed and the teachings of Islam. This approach is also supported by the UAE’s wise leaders, along with nations and people from around the world, who join efforts to consolidate these morals and uphold the values of justice, tolerance and love.”

Interfaith dialogue is defined as an exchanges among religious practitioners and communities on matters of doctrine and issues of mutual concern in culture and politics. They explore the world's religious traditions in their efforts to collaborate on questions of peace, social development and how an interfaith dialogue can help the community to prevent Online Exploitation of children.

According to the Khaleej Times (2018) the authorities at the Ministry of Interior (MoI) stated: “The UAE will sign the Abu Dhabi Declaration to protect children from abuse and sexual assault online”. In order to fight off crimes against children online, the UAE Government stated in the Khaleej Times, that it will be hosting its first 'Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities: Child Dignity Online' forum, bringing together the world's religious leaders to tackle the world's most pressing social challenges. In addition, as stated by Gulf News (2018) it was reported that “Religious scholars and experts in cybercrimes against children and their sexual exploitation will gather in Abu Dhabi to find solutions for safer communities and protection of children”.

Statistics show that millions of children and adolescents are exposed to criminal behavior online every year as the issue of child abuse and exploitation on the Internet is more than just a concern.

Experts in child protection believe that religious leaders impact the minds of people; therefore, they have an important role to play in the protections of families, adolescents and children. They are supposed to protect them from being exploited in all aspects of life – now including online - which is one of the biggest threats to children today.