ABU DHABI // A committee has been tasked with finding a way to provide Emirates ID cards to children with unknown fathers.
The committee will comprise representatives from the Federal National Council and Ministry of Social Affairs, the FNC decided on Tuesday.
Member Marwan bin Ghalita (Dubai) raised the issue with Maryam Al Roumi, Minister of Social Affairs, arguing that Emirati families fostering such children have are suffering from a lack of official documents. He said they cannot check them into hospitals, register them or travel abroad with them.
Mr bin Ghalita cited law No 1 of 2012, which says that a care centre for those with “unknown fraternity” will take the necessary steps to register children in official documents, and asked what has been done to register them.
Ms Al Roumi said one such care house would be established by the end of this year and open next year. It would issue official documents and coordinate between departments.
Until then, her ministry issues birth certificates to the children and chooses names for them that are in line with UAE and Islamic traditions. Then, the required documents are brought to the Ministry of Interior’s naturalisation committee so they can be issued passports.
However, Mr bin Ghalita said: “The important thing now is to have an exception to issue them ID cards.”
He said that it has been four years since the FNC discussed the law, but the results have not yet been seen. He read messages from Emirati parents about the problem.
He quoted one message that said: “Every time my daughter asks why we cannot travel, I lie to her.” For another parent, Umm Ahmed, “the situation became very painful” and the child “is not accepted anywhere”.
“She was rejected in the dental clinic because she does not have an ID card,” said Mr bin Ghalita.
He said the families chose to foster the children out of a sense of national responsibility, because “our vision in 2020 is to have equality in responsibility”.
“Today the local family says, ‘We are suffering from this’,” he said.
Ms Al Roumi said the care centre is under construction, but Mr bin Ghalita said three such buildings exist in Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Following the discussion, Mr bin Ghalita recommended the formation of the joint committee, which Ms Al Roumi welcomed. The council passed the recommendation.
hdajani@thenational.ae
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Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
If you go
The flights
Etihad flies direct from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco from Dh5,760 return including taxes.
The car
Etihad Guest members get a 10 per cent worldwide discount when booking with Hertz, as well as earning miles on their rentals. A week's car hire costs from Dh1,500 including taxes.
The hotels
Along the route, Motel 6 (www.motel6.com) offers good value and comfort, with rooms from $55 (Dh202) per night including taxes. In Portland, the Jupiter Hotel (https://jupiterhotel.com/) has rooms from $165 (Dh606) per night including taxes. The Society Hotel https://thesocietyhotel.com/ has rooms from $130 (Dh478) per night including taxes.
More info
To keep up with constant developments in Portland, visit www.travelportland.com. Good guidebooks include the Lonely Planet guides to Northern California and Washington, Oregon & the Pacific Northwest.
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Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
- 17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
- 1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior
- 7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
- 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
- 100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
The design
The protective shell is covered in solar panels to make use of light and produce energy. This will drastically reduce energy loss.
More than 80 per cent of the energy consumed by the French pavilion will be produced by the sun.
The architecture will control light sources to provide a highly insulated and airtight building.
The forecourt is protected from the sun and the plants will refresh the inner spaces.
A micro water treatment plant will recycle used water to supply the irrigation for the plants and to flush the toilets. This will reduce the pavilion’s need for fresh water by 30 per cent.
Energy-saving equipment will be used for all lighting and projections.
Beyond its use for the expo, the pavilion will be easy to dismantle and reuse the material.
Some elements of the metal frame can be prefabricated in a factory.
From architects to sound technicians and construction companies, a group of experts from 10 companies have created the pavilion.
Work will begin in May; the first stone will be laid in Dubai in the second quarter of 2019.
Construction of the pavilion will take 17 months from May 2019 to September 2020.
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Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
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