Workshop to train young people on rights of children

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