Al-Ahram Weekly looks into the latest efforts to help the less fortunate youngstersLittle victims?
Only the media, writes Amany Abdel-Moneim, can stamp out child abuse
Throughout the world, children remain more vulnerable to abuse than almost any other group. Defined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child as "all forms of violence, injury... neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse", child abuse is high on the current Arab reform agenda, with official measures taken to end it as well as campaigns to raise awareness of the issue.
It was in this context that, under the slogan, "Let us work together to combat violence against children", some 26 media figures from 14 Arab countries gathered in Cairo last month for a six-day workshop designed to help participants address the issue in the media. Organised by the Arab Council for Childhood and Development (ACCD) in collaboration with the Arab Gulf Programme for the United Nations Development Organisation (AGFUND), the workshop was held under the auspices of Prince Talal Bin Abdul-Aziz, president of the ACCD and the AGFUND.
The workshop centred on a training programme, embodied in a manual written by six representatives from Jordan, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, intended to aid the media accumulate expertise in the arena of child welfare, with a special focus on violence against children and child rights. This involves not only raising parental awareness but popularising and underlining efforts to combat violence as well. Participants agreed that the status of children in most Arab countries is far from satisfactory, stressing the importance of coordination and the sharing of knowledge and expertise. Underlining the need for media organisations to continually draw attention to the forced labour of children in addition to other forms of abuse, participants also stressed the need for a balanced, shared framework to promote and enhance child rights. Recommendations included ending society's traditional silence concerning child abuse and giving Arab children and their advocates a greater voice in the media. Recommendations included paying special attention to the plight and welfare of children in Iraq and Palestine, given the higher levels of violence in the two countries. In this regard, participants highlighted the UN secretary-general's recent report on violence against children.
A major component of the workshop was the announcement, on 14 June, of the first Arab Media Network against Child Abuse, with the workshop participants as its core group. The network will pinpoint failures within the Arab media in this regard, and act as a forum for the sharing of expertise as regards combating all forms of physical and mental violence, abuse, neglect, negligent treatment and exploitation.
The declaration of the network concluded the six-day event, with a coordination committee comprised of seven of the network's founding members, headed by Palestine's Zahir Al-Kashef. A website was launched during the occasion, giving various civil institutions further access to the Arab Civil Child Welfare Forum which was inaugurated in 2001 in coordination with regional and international organisations -- AGFUND, the MENA UNICEF, the Moroccan Observartoire Nationale de Driots de L'Enfant, the Arab Institute for Child Rights and the Arab League -- to establish and promote a social movement to act as a positive link between development and child rights issues. The Forum extends the role of ACCD following its selection both as the coordinator of the Arab Civil Society's activities and the Forum secretariat base. According to Iman Bahieddin, ACCD's Child Media Unit coordinator, membership within the network is open to media figures interested in combating child abuse.
For more information and registration, log onto www.megdaf.org.
Caption: Together to stop violence against children
C a p t i o n : Together to stop violence against children
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/852/fe3.htm