Regional Youth Forum Against Violence opens

Accra, Aug 30, GNA - A conference dubbed "Regional Youth Forum Against Violence" to discuss how violence impacts lives of children and how it can be stopped opens in Accra on Tuesday.

The four-day conference, which is being attended by more than 80 children from West Africa and the world, will be addressed by Madam Marta Santos Pais, United Nations Secretary General's Special Representative on Violence Against Children.

It is coordinated and organized by Plan International, a child-centered non-governmental organization, in partnership with Save the Children, Sweden and with additional support from United Nations International Children Emergency Fund, ActionAid, World Vision, ECPAT and War Child Holland. The conference runs from 31 August-03 September at the British Council in Accra.

A statement by Plan Ghana and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Monday said the conference was designed to facilitate the exchange of ideas and solutions, and give the youth the opportunity to build and expand their network to stop violence.

The statement said: "Youth participants from the Gambia, Senegal, Togo, Cote D'Ivoire, Benin, Mali, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Niger, Liberia, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau and Ghana will be join by youth from non African countries to discuss violence, how to it relates to gender; but most importantly about how to work together to end it partnership with UN, government, NGOs and other actors".

"Violence against children occurs in schools, communities and homes, and girls are particularly vulnerable".

It said according to a Desk Review of Evidence within education settings conducted in 2008 on 24 West and Central African countries, only 11 had legal provisions against violence, sexual abuse and exploitation at school.

It quoted one of the children saying: "We children suffer mistreatment and are often afraid to speak out. At this forum, I can learn what children in other countries are doing to combat violence", said Thales, a 17 year old forum participant, "I can use what I learn to better organize my friends in Benin", he added.

Thales youth group in Benin informs peers and parents about the consequences of abuse and try to find ways of stopping it.

The statement quoted Madam Santos Pais as saying: "Children witness violence and endure physical, emotional and sexual abuse everyday", "children fear reporting, worried they will not be believed or that they may suffer reprisals or stigmatization. They also do not know where to go or whom to call to benefit from counseling and support and to see the incidents of violence effectively addressed and impunity combated".

It said Plan International, Save the Children, Sweden and other child rights' partners, had been at the fore front of combating violence against children across West Africa.

According the statement, both organizations in 2008 launched a project dubbed Violence Against Children (VAC), which aimed at educating about 5 million people against violence against children through child publications and broadcasts.

It said the participation of children in preventing and responding to all form of violence was one of the main recommendations of the UN Secretary General's Study on Violence Against Children in 2006.

It concluded that: "Children and youth are not encouraged and empowered to stop violence through discussions with their families, friends and teachers on how violence hurts their communities and about what steps they can take together to stop it. Other youth have learnt about how to talk about violence to a wide audience through radio and television programmes and to use mobile phones to collect pictures or testimonies on their issues".