SHILLONG, March 30 (NNN): The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) in collaboration with the Meghalaya State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (MSCPCR) and the Seva Bharati Purbanchal (SBP) on Tuesday organised a one-day regional level orientation workshop for media personnel of the north-eastern states on child rights in Shillong.
Speaking during the inaugural session chairperson of MSCPCR, Iamon M Syiem said that the objective of such a workshop is to enlighten media persons in protecting the rights of children during the filing of stories in various media houses or outlets.
Syiem said that media plays an important role in highlighting the gaps in measures taken for the prevention of crime against children by reporting cases which in turn help NCPCR to take suo- moto cognizance of violation of Child Rights and activating the concerned authorities in the process.
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“Such workshops or interactions with media persons on the rights of children will help the media persons to understand their role in highlighting the issues concerning the children at large by understanding the importance of protecting the identity of any victims and in turn concerned authorities will act to prevent such crimes or to provide assistance to victims,” said Syiem.
Meanwhile, a senior technical expert from NCPCR, Paresh Shah highlighted the technicalities of various laws to protect the rights of children and lamented clauses of non-disclosure of the child in media platforms and the roles of media in protecting child rights.
Shah said that there are enough provisions under IPC in the country for the protection of child rights and there are various codes and guidelines which have been formulated by different authorities in the country which helps the media in reporting on child rights.
“Content writers need to remind themselves that under the right to freedom of expression when reporting on children’s issues, freedom has to be exercised with caution as they hold a child’s life in their hands, stories should be informative and not sensational as children need to be treated as important subjects for the media and they should never be taken advantage of their vulnerability,” said Shah.
