The Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family, in partnership with UNICEF and Moldovan businesses, launched the national campaign “Protect my childhood” that will last for a year. The campaign’s objective is to reduce violence against children by informing parents and families about positive parenting practices, IPN reports.
Minister of Labor Valentina Buliga told a news conference that violent practices as a form of disciplining children are widespread in Moldova. More than half of children aged 6-7 years old are subject to physical punishment. Moreover, even children up to 1 year are beaten by their parents. The violence is often caused by public tolerance to this phenomenon, the social norms that encourage beating and lack of positive communication skills of parents with children.
“Every child has the right to live in a loving and safe environment. Parents should be supported to learn how to educate their children with care and without violence. Parental programs and educational media programs are extremely important in this regard. There is also a need to improve community services and referral mechanisms to identify and assist victims of violence so that every child in Moldova is protected from violence and has the best start in life,” said Nune Mangasaryan, UNICEF Representative in Moldova.
An important component of violence prevention campaign is distributing informative leaflets with practical advice about non-violent education to 700,000 families in Moldova. The leaflets are distributed with electricity bills during September-November 2013, thanks to a public-private partnership project supported by the company GasNatural Fenosa and the Association of Persons with Disabilities “Motivation”, whose beneficiaries are involved in attaching the information to bills.
The “Protect my childhood” campaign is launched in the framework of the UN week in Moldova and will run for one year in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Health. The campaign will include several outreach activities at national and local level, including dissemination of video spots, public lectures, informative classes, drawing competitions in all schools, mass media activities.
