ORANJESTAD — The newly appointed special representative of the United Nations (UN) for violence against children, Marta Santos Pais, has received the book Violencia no ta bon! in New York. It is a part of one of the new school projects of Telefon pa Hubentud, by which the Aruban institute wishes to implement the recommendations of the UN World Study on Violence Against Children (World VAC Study).
NEWS ARTICLE TAKEN FROM WWW.AMIGOE.COM
Hellen van der Wal, Chairwoman of Telefon pa Hubentut and the SMC Research Foundation, who represents the Caribbean region in the NGO Advisory Council for Follow up to the UN World VAC Study since 2007 had presented the book. Van der Wal had been re-elected as Caribbean representative during the meetings in New York last week.
According to her, the UN sets great store by the combating of violence against children that a ‘special representative’ has meanwhile been appointed to supervise the implementation of the recommendations of the World VAC Study. Marta Santos Pais has been appointed for the next three years as per September 1st. It is not only countries that have committed themselves to these recommendations, as the NGO Advisory Council for Follow Up to the UN World VAC Study had been set up in 2007. This advisory organ was set up to, amongst others, support Santos Pais with her activities and consists of representatives from nine international ngo’s (non-governmental organizations) and nine regions.
Caribbean region charted
Van der Wal had not only presented the booklet ‘Violencia no ta bon’ to Marta Santos Pais in New York, but had also requested attention for the entire Caribbean region with all of its exceptional features. "It is known, that until now the United Nations had only had an eye for those countries that were a member of CARICOM and therefore not for countries such as Aruba which is voluntarily seated in cooperation with other countries, usually with a former colonizer. Moreover, the international ngo’s are also not or barely active in the Caribbean region." Van der Wal has charted all of this in the document ‘Mapping the Caribbean’ in cooperation with the SMC Research Foundation. This document is currently being used to draw attention for the Caribbean region and was presented to Santos Pais as well.
The results of the UN World Study on Violence Against Children (World VAC Study) had been presented to the General Assembly of the United Nations in October 2006 and the recommendations which research leader professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro had suggested with regard to this research, had been adopted unanimously. All member-states of the United Nations have committed themselves to implement the recommendations.
The World VAC Study has confirmed that children in the entire world, in all sections of the population and in all surroundings: family, school, on the streets, at work, in institutions, etc., encounter violence on a large scale. They are either a victim of violence or a witness thereof.
Many forms of violence against children remain hidden. That is also because children do not know any better than that, violence is all part of life, or that they are ashamed. It also appears from the report that they also often think that there is no help. It is therefore important to talk to children and youngsters about violence, according to Van der Wal, "as, professor Pinheiro stated upon presenting his research results: Violence is unacceptable and all forms of violence can be prevented. That is also the reason why Telefon pa Hubentud started the project Violencia no to bon."
Telefon pa Hubentud had started the project Violencia no ta bon last March. Since then, 5000 booklets have been distributed to schools with the intention to make all forms of violence with children discussable. The experiences of the various schools with this project are good, according to Van der Wal. Children appear to have a need to talk about these kinds of matters even though it is not an easy subject for teachers; they know that they can count on the support of co-workers from Telefon pa Hubentud. Upon request, co-workers of the children’s telephone will give workshops to teachers and school management, and if required, during class in case teachers prefer not to do so themselves. Due to the limited means, Telefon pa Hubentud could not provide any teachers’ manual yet. However, this is on the program for next year as part of the broader objective: the safe school, said Van der Wal.
NEWS ARTICLE TAKEN FROM WWW.AMIGOE.COM