Parents in the UAE should not allow housemaids into the bathroom with their children on their own as this could tempt the maids to molest them, a Dubai official has said.
Dubai and other emirates in the UAE have recorded many cases involving maids molesting children inside bathrooms after they were allowed by parents to change their clothes or bathe them, said Mohammed Murad Abdullah, secretary general of the Dubai-based Juvenile education and care association.
“There have been many cases involving housemaids who touch sensitive parts of the bodies of children while undressing them to change their clothes or bathe them,” he said, quoted by Dubai-based Arabic language daily Emarat Alyoum.
“Parents who allow housemaids to go with their children into the bathroom or toilets, whether these children are male or females, are committing a serious mistake… this is a serious negligence on the part of mothers as such acts often lead their children to become unaware of their bodies’ privacy and subject them to molestation.”
Abdullah, also director of the government’s decision-making support centre in Dubai, said families should work to lessen their reliance on maids and keep them in separate rooms so they will not often mingle with their children.
“The problem is that mothers take precautionary measures only after the disaster has befallen them… they must realize that molesting or raping a child will have very serious psychological effects on the child… prevention of such things is essential.”