Child safety standards

Effective date: 1 October 2026

Swaed UAE Association For Culture and Community Empowerment (“the Association”, “we”), licensed by the Ministry of Community Empowerment (NPO licence 784-7-01-190143), is committed to protecting children and young people who use the website swaeduae.ae and the SwaedUAE mobile apps (together, the “Platform”) or who take part in our activities.

This page sets out our standards against child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE), including child sexual abuse material (CSAM), and how we respond to concerns. It applies:

• Federal Law No. 3 of 2016 on child rights (Wadeema’s Law) and its executive regulation
• Federal Decree-Law No. 26 of 2025 on child digital safety
• Federal Law No. 13 of 2018 on volunteer work (guardian consent for volunteers under 18)
• Federal Decree-Law No. 34 of 2021 on combating rumours and cybercrimes
• Google Play and App Store child-safety requirements for our apps

Our commitment

• Zero tolerance for CSAE or CSAM on the Platform or in connection with our programmes.
• Volunteering by young people takes place under adult supervision and with a guardian’s consent.
• We cooperate with the Ministry of Interior Child Protection Centre, the Ministry of Community Empowerment and law enforcement when we become aware of content or conduct that may harm a child.
• We do not advertise to children or profile them.

Prohibited conduct

Strictly prohibited on the Platform and in any Association activity or channel:

• creating, uploading, sharing, requesting or distributing CSAM or any sexual content involving minors;
• grooming, exploitation, facilitating trafficking, or endangering children through opportunities, messages or contact tools;
• using the Platform to arrange harmful contact with a minor or to get around an organiser’s safeguarding rules;
• publishing identifying details of a child victim of abuse.

Violations lead to immediate suspension of the account, removal from rosters, a permanent ban, preservation of evidence and referral to the authorities.

Age, guardian consent and minors’ data

• A child is a person under 18.
• A volunteer under 18 must record a date of birth and a guardian’s name, phone number and consent in the profile before joining any opportunity. The organiser of an opportunity sees that the volunteer is a minor and has the guardian’s number.
• Organisers mark whether an opportunity admits volunteers under 18; the Platform does not let a minor join one that does not.
• We do not open accounts for children under 13.
• Photographs of volunteers under 18 are published only with the guardian’s consent (see the Privacy policy).
• Position reports while checked in are used for attendance only; they are not a tracking tool and stop at check-out.

Duties of organisers hosting young volunteers

Organisers who admit volunteers under 18 must provide on-site adult supervision, age-appropriate tasks, a named coordinator reachable by phone, and must keep the guardian’s number to hand. They must report any concern to the Association and, where required by Wadeema’s Law, to the authorities.

Reporting a concern

To the Association

1. In the SwaedUAE app — Profile → Report a child safety concern.
2. On the website — Contact and support, topic Child safety concern, or email [email protected] with the subject Child safety concern.
3. Say what happened, when and who was involved, and attach links or screenshots that are safe to share. Never forward CSAM.

To the UAE authorities (in parallel, for abuse)

Under Wadeema’s Law anyone who learns of harm to a child should report it, and people entrusted with the care, education or protection of a child are obliged to.

How we respond

1. Triage — reports go to the Secretary of the Board and are handled first.
2. Preservation — we keep the relevant account, attendance and technical records where lawful to support an investigation.
3. Action — we remove content, suspend accounts and restrict access.
4. Escalation — we refer the matter to the competent authorities when required or appropriate.
5. Follow-up — we may contact the reporter; we protect the reporter’s identity where possible and lawful.

Notice and takedown

Use the channels above to flag CSAM or harmful content involving a child. We act promptly, remove or block confirmed material and report it as the law requires. Do not download or redistribute illegal material.

Prevention

• Organisations are verified with licence documents before they can publish opportunities.
• Opportunities, rosters and post-event reports are reviewed by the Association.
• Staff access to personal data is limited to operational need and logged (see Privacy policy).
• These standards are published for users, partners and the app stores.

Contact

Child-safety reports and app-store CSAE enquiries: [email protected] · +971 50 346 8636 Swaed UAE Association For Culture and Community Empowerment, Sheikh Hamad Bin Abdullah St, Mraisheed, Fujairah, P.O. Box 3686, United Arab Emirates.

Updates

We update these standards when laws, Platform features or partner requirements change; the effective date above changes with them.