[hr-education] Afghan religious leaders benefit from child rights awareness

[***Moderator's note: List members may be interested in this recent press
release from UNICEF.***]


Nearly 8,000 mullahs in western region to receive sensitisation on range
of children's issues

KABUL, 12 September 2004 – 7,800 religious leaders from the western
provinces of Afghanistan will start to receive awareness-raising and
sensitization training on children's rights, as a new round of workshops
gets under way on 13 September in a joint initiative between the Afghan
Ministry of Religious Affairs and UNICEF.

This week's training programme is part of a nationwide campaign that aims
to reach up to 25,500 mullahs in 2004, and a further 50,000 next year. The
programme covers a number of children's issues including the rights to
education, health care and nutrition, early marriage, reintegration of
former child soldiers, the dangers of domestic violence and abuse, and
awareness of HIV/AIDS. Each workshop lasts two days and is aimed at
mullahs from individual districts, overseen by religious leaders who have
undertaken prior "training for trainers" programmes.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs and UNICEF consider Afghanistan's
religious community to be vital advocates and ambassadors for children's
rights, holding positions of significant moral, social and spiritual
influence with families. Since 2002, mullahs have played an important role
in promoting issues such as girls' education and immunization, and in 2003
the first national gathering of Afghan religious leaders issued a strong
declaration of commitment to furthering the rights of children.

The training workshops in western Afghanistan will continue until the end
of October. At the same time, "training of trainers" will begin in the
north of the country, with provincial level training rolling out later in
the month, targeting over 17,000 religious leaders in northern and
north-eastern areas by the end of October.

The religious leaders' sensitization programme is supported financially
through contributions from Finland and UNAIDS.

UNICEF Press release



======== Global Human Rights Education listserv ========
Send mail intended for the list to <hr-education@hrea.org>.
Archives of the list can be found at:
http://www.hrea.org/lists/hr-education/markup/maillist.php
If you have problems (un)subscribing, contact <owner-hr-education@hrea.org>.
**You are welcome to reprint, copy, archive, quote or re-post this item,
but please retain the original and listserv source.