ARMENIAN JOURNALISTS EMPOWERED TO SOLVE CHILD PROTECTION ISSUES

Source: World Vision Middle East/Eastern Europe office (MEERO)
10 Dec 2007 06:51:45 GMT

Previous | Next Journalists and NGO representatives are discussing
issues on child protection coverage.

World Vision MEERO, Armenian journalists
were equipped to increase public awareness on child protection issues
through a meeting organized in Yerevan by World Vision and the Child
Protection Network in honour of the International Day of Disabled
People, 3 December.

‘The purpose of this meeting is to create a group of journalists who
will cooperate with the Network to present child protection challenges
to the advantage of children,’ said Mira Antonyan, director of Child
Reception and Orientation Center of Fund for Armenian Relief.

The Network emphasized that the present coverage of child protection
issues is limited and lacks a comprehensive and consistent approach.

At the meeting, ten journalists representing both print and broadcast
media were provided with comprehensive information on the state
of child vulnerability in Armenia. As a result of the information
sharing they will be able to provide more accurate and purposeful
coverage of child protection issues.

‘As actors in civil society the media are responsible for covering
child protection issues in a way that contributes to a solution,
rather than a simple engagement of the topic,’ said Artur Martirosyan,
World Vision Armenia’s Child Protection Program policy officer.

Journalists can play a greater role in improving the vulnerability of
children by proactively finding cases of child’s rights violations,
informing the public, NGOs and governmental organizations of the cases,
and following how the cases are handled.

The journalists agreed to inform the Child Protection Network of
all child rights violation cases through a hotline established for
that purpose.

The Network will continue to collaborate with participating journalists
through subsequent information sharing meetings and by coordinating
media coverage.

The Child Protection Network aims to improve collaboration and
coordination of child protection activities. It was established in June
2005, by one governmental and ten non-governmental organizations that
advocate for child protection in Armenia. The Network has established
a hotline so that vulnerable children and their parents can find
psychological, social and material assistance.

[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and
not of Reuters. ]