GJA school journalists on children's rights

Cape Coast, Dec. 8, GNA - The Vice President of Ghana Journalists Association(GJA), Mr Affail Money on Tuesday asked journalists to should ensure that the rough edges of news concerning children was trimmed before it was put into the public domain. This, he said, would help safeguard the interest and protection of their dignity as individuals.

He said whatever the media put out could feed the minds of children and shape their future hence the need for journalists to refrain from the publication of pornographic materials among other social vices. Mr Money made the call at a two-day workshop for members of the Central Regional branch of the GJA in Cape Coast. The objective of the workshop was to train and orient the media to disseminate information in a manner that will preserve the rights of children and uphold their dignity as stated in the UN Convention on the rights of the child and the Children's Act. Mr Money stressed the need for the creation of more space for children's programme as well as the protection of their privacy and the promotion of their interest. Mr Bright Appiah, Executive Director of Child's Right International (CRI), a non-governmental organisation, noted that when issues relating to children came up, the media sometimes condemned them, thus violating their rights.

He advised the public to ensure that children were safeguarded against all forms of economic exploitation and hazardous work that interfered with their education. Mr Appiah encouraged the media to give children the platform to air their views on issues concerning them and as far as possible work in their best interest. He stressed that if the society failed to protect children they would lose self confidence and that could be disastrous because they would be left on their own and fall into dangerous hands. The Programme Development Adviser, CRI, Miss Marie-Eve Lemieux, said if a juvenile was being held at a police station, the police had to keep them in an area meant only for juveniles or a place separated from adults. She said measures such as probation should be encourage helping reform juvenile offenders and promoting their reintegration into the family and the community and the prevention of stigmatisation against them through their contact with the criminal justice system.