Two Lebanese youths from World Vision's programmes represented their country at an international event in Cairo last Monday to draw attention to the issue of violence against children in their region.

Tony Jemayel (16) and Sarah Ajami (17) joined 20 other child representatives from seven other Arab countries at a series of events organised to celebrate the release of the Arabic language version of the UN Study on Violence Against Children.

'I am from Lebanon and I am very proud to represent my country in this conference,' Sarah said. 'This UN study helps the government to know about children rights and I am confident it will have a positive impact on our society. However we need to put an emphasis on implementing the study's recommendations, otherwise violence against the children will remain as it is today.'



The launch was attended by such high profile guests as Princess Lalla Mariam of Morocco and the first lady of Egypt, Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak.

'Family violence is very hard to address because it tends to remain a secret issue,' said Mrs. Mubarak. 'Few people reveal this issue to avoid social stigma. We must focus on raising awareness at the family level to have lasting changes. We have a law that bans violence against children but still we need to do more in educating about this issue.'

World Vision has identified violence against children as one of the main problems that affect children in Lebanon.


'We consulted children and they expressed that they suffer too much when they are beaten by their parents, teachers or peers,' said Patricio Cuevas-Parra, World Vision Lebanon's advocacy manager. 'World Vision always emphasizes two core messages: violence is preventable and never justifiable and everyone is responsible to stop violence against children.'

World Vision will use this study as a platform to influence the public and to negotiate with representatives of government, parliament and civil society to ensure that the study's recommendations are taken into consideration in the national agenda, he said.

'Violence is present in all social environments but centres on vulnerable groups such us children,' said Patricio Cuevas-Parra, World Vision Lebanon's advocacy manager. 'Lebanese children lack the minimum legal frameworks that protect them from violence. Our task is to contribute to policy change by developing a set of legal regulations to prevent and address violence against children'