[hr-education] Yemen: Workshop to train young people on rights of children

[***Moderator's note: Today, 12 June 2006, is the World Day Against Child
Labour. Below you will find an article on a workhop in Yemen organised on
the occassion of the World Day Against Child Labour. For more information
and learning materials about child labour please visit:
http://www.hrea.org/feature-events/day-against-childlabour.php ***]

 
SANAA, 12 Jun 2006 (IRIN) - A workshop devoted to children’s rights began
in Sana'a on Monday, timed to coincide with the International Day against
Child Labour. The week-long programme was organised by the Ebhar
Foundation for Childhood and Creativity and funded by the Berlin-based
Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES).

During the workshop, 25 young men and women, selected from a number of
NGOs dealing with children’s issues, will receive training on human –
specifically children’s – rights. “Young people constitute half the
population of Yemen,” said FES Resident Representative Felix Eikenberg.
“Sometimes, children's rights are neglected, so it’s important to focus on
issues of human rights.”

Abuse of children’s rights is widespread in Yemen, according to a 2005
annual report by UN children’s agency UNICEF. The report noted that
violence against children was widely practiced in schools, by the judicial
system, in the streets and in the home. Other forms of exploitation
include child trafficking and child labour, the latter of which is
accepted as a social norm. According to the UNICEF report, more than 10
percent of the total labour force is made up of children.

Participants in the training programme are expected to help spread rights
awareness among children. They will also be trained to use the “Human
Rights Education Compass”, a manual on human rights education geared for
young people.

“The idea is how to transmit ideas of human rights to young people who
will then work with children to the same purpose,” said Maha Salah, head
of the Ebhar Foundation.

According to Salah, human rights issues are seldom taken seriously in
Yemen. “We always hear about child abuse and child trafficking,” he said.
“The human rights situation in Yemen is clearly not advancing.”

Workshop participant Yasser Mohammed said the programme would enable
participants to acquire the skills needed to deal with various human
rights-related issues. “Through this programme, we’ll be able to deal with
human rights and children’s issues,” he said. “We’ll also be better aware
of rules concerned with child rights.”

MAJ/AR/AM

Source: IRIN -
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53857&SelectRegion=Middle_East
&SelectCountry=YEMEN

 

 

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