Hyderabad: UNICEF workshop on child rights ends at MANUU

Hyderabad: UNICEF has been working for child rights over the past several years. The purpose of conducting this programme in MANUU is to make journalism students responsible and sensitive towards the rights of children. These were the views expressed by Sonia Sarkar, Communication Officer (Media), UNICEF India, on the second day of the workshop.

United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)in collaboration with Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU), Dept of MCJ conducted two days workshop "The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)" on 15- 16 November.

As a part of the Global Rights Act, a healthy media could help governments in taking steps towards providing social and educational rights to the children in India, she added. The workshop was conducted as part of the 30 years of CRC celebrations and in continuance with UNICEF's capacity building initiatives to instill a child's rights' perspective in reporting among the academic and budding journalists.

Prof Mohd Fariyad, Dept. of MCJ, MANUU while opening the discussion on the second day morning said that UNICEF has introduced tenets of the Child Rights Convention and gave a brief explanation about the 54 articles under CRC with an emphasis on Youth Voices and Child Participation.

Surindre Dhaleta, UNICEF officer in his address said that India ratified the convention in 1992 and since then has done much on this front.

Dr. K. S. Arul Selvan, Associate Professor, SOJNMS, IGNOU spoke on Child Rights and Media. While throwing light on Article 12, 13 & 17 of the CRC it was emphasized that child participation is integral to CRC.

Eminent journalist Dr. M. H. Ghazali spoke about 'Children's Participation in Child Rights'. He presented short films highlighting the dropout rates of Children in India and later had a discussion with the participants regarding the message that emerged from videos.

Tehseen Munawar, Editor, News18, New Delhi spoke about the problems and prospects of Child rights to highlight the basic issues faced by children in India. Group Work was also conducted by Trainers.

Prof. Ehtesham Ahmad Khan, Dean & Head, Dept of MCJ in his valedictory remarks said that the students will surely implement the knowledge gained in the workshop in their journalistic carrier. The course on Child Rights has been adapted for media and will be rolled out at MANUU to give child rights perspective to budding media, he added. Prof. Khan also proposed the vote of thanks.