SCMR, UNICEF to Hold Conference on Children's Rights

The Supreme Council for Media Regulation (SCMR), headed by journalist writer Karam Jabr, in cooperation with UNICEF, will hold a dialogue session on (the basic rights of the child in the law and how to deal with the media). It will take place on Monday at 11 am, at SCMR’s headquarters in the Maspero building.

The session comes within several sessions scheduled to be organized by SCMR, on the occasion of the Child Code. At the end of the session, a competition will be organized to select the distinguished journalistic and media works - news, reports, novels and programs - related to the child, and the winners will be awarded prizes.

The sessions will discuss the study of means of empowering media professionals and introducing them to the concepts of basic children’s rights. It will also tackle how to address issues related to children in accordance with international conventions and charters, the constitution and national legislation.

It will discuss working to raise societal awareness of children and their families through the media to avoid their children’s violation of the law and support the state’s efforts to protect the rights of our children.

Workshops will be organized related to the artworks presented to the child and the production of cartoon drama because of its closeness to the child's mind and his constant passion for it.

The head of SCMR indicated that the role of drama makers will be discussed with the necessity of avoiding scenes of smoking and drug use that tempt young people, young people and adolescents to experiment with abuse.

He explained that the code of media conduct for the Egyptian child focuses on the need to respect children in treatment as complete inpiduals entitled to enjoy all human rights.

SCMR’s head stressed that the issue of media coverage of children's rights cannot be considered a mere event, but rather an ongoing process, as media professionals should take into account the maintenance of ethical and professional standards when dealing with children's issues.

In this context, he called on all media outlets to do more in depth in dealing with children's issues, and not to overly superficially address these issues, in order to find solutions to these issues and problems related to children.

He added:  "The coming period requires the need to shed light on the issues of children with special needs in the media, as well as on the issues of children in remote, rural and slum areas, especially in light of the special living conditions that these children live in on the social, economic and health levels."