Amman-Ma’an- The Fourth International Child Conference 2024 (Arab Children’s Rights between Reality and Hope: The Child’s Right to Life and Education) concluded in the Jordanian capital, Amman. The conference was inaugurated under the patronage of Dr. Mohammad Al-Halayqa, former Deputy Prime Minister of Jordan, and was organized by the Southern Badia Center, in cooperation with the American Programs Group Foundation and the Ideal Aura Foundation, with the participation of the International Federation for Training and Development, and with the participation of distinguished international delegations specialized in children’s affairs from Jordan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, the Kingdom of Morocco and Syria.
It included representatives from the National Center for Human Rights in Jordan, a delegation from the Moroccan National Camping University, representatives from the Yemeni Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, a delegation from Palestine, and officials concerned with humanitaria
n and human rights issues and those interested in the issue of children’s rights.
The conference chair, Dr. Mai Al Hindi in the opening speech about the violations that children are exposed to in many conflict areas, especially the Palestinian child, who has been stripped of all his rights, even the basic ones. She also mentioned the types of exploitation that children are exposed to, from addiction to physical exploitation, sexual exploitation, forced recruitment, displacement, deprivation of education and human trafficking. Al
Hindi stressed that it is necessary that the recommendations are not wishes, but rather they must be implemented and realistic and work with international efforts to achieve them. She thanked all the delegations and organizers who attended from the Arab countries and the participants from Jordan and all those who presented inspiring success stories from the Arab countries.
For her part, the head of the organizing committee, Dr. Amal Alawneh, referred in her speech to the efforts ma
de to open opportunities for activists and owners of institutions and organizations concerned with children. She added that the conference comes at a time when it needs to present the current reality of the Arab child, which sheds light on real issues that are almost forgotten for children, especially for children in Gaza, to the rest of the countries in conflict. Alawneh stressed the need for recommendations to be in line with the events in the Arab world, from deprivation of education and deprivation of basic needs, especially what is happening in Palestine. She thanked all the figures participating in the Fourth International Child Conference 2024, who added a lot to the content of the conference.
This edition comes under the slogan “The Child’s Right to Life and Education”, and many inspiring working papers and initiatives were discussed. It included sessions and seminars concerned with children’s issues, and future visions for the Arab child were discussed.
The conference shed light on the problems fac
ing children in Palestine and conflict and dispute areas, especially the child’s right to life and education, and working to build a network for support and rehabilitation by facilitating cooperation between the parties responsible for providing assistance to children in these areas. The conference included many working papers and initiatives, the general content of which included:
– The impact of wars and armed conflicts on the child’s right to life
– The impact of conflicts and wars on education for the child.
– The role of education in building sustainable societies.
– Challenges of the child’s right to health and health care.
– The role of civil society in supporting the child’s right to life
– Psychological characteristics of war children
– Psychological and social support for the war child
– Strategies to improve children’s access to education in conflict and dispute areas.
Yemen’s participation (Ministry of Human Rights)
A delegation from the Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights participated in th
e conference. The Director General of International Organizations and Reports at the Ministry of Human Rights, Essam Qasim, stressed in his speech at the conference that the Yemeni government has taken a set of measures within the framework of respecting its obligations at the national and international levels, and has issued many laws, legislations and decisions, and taken major steps to address issues such as child recruitment, forced labor, disruption of education due to conflict, establishing special courts for juveniles, and rehabilitating child soldiers. He referred to the efforts to implement the joint plan according to the roadmap signed between the Yemeni government and the United Nations, represented by the Children’s Fund (UNICEF) regarding preventing child recruitment, based on Cabinet Resolution No. (109) of 2018 regarding approval of the updated roadmap for the 2014 Action Plan. Al-Shaeri addressed the ongoing violations committed by the terrorist Houthi militias, including forced recruitment of
children, disruption of education, and prevention of basic services.
Art Exhibition (Colors of Palestinian Children)
Among the conference’s events and activities, Dr. Muhammad Al-Halayqa, accompanied by the participating delegations, inaugurated the art exhibition (Colors of Palestinian Children), which included more than 40 paintings by Palestinian children. The paintings showed the extent of the suffering of children in Palestine.
Palestinian participation
Mr. Samih Abu Zakia, Director General of the Palestinian Child Arts Center, participated in the conference and gave a speech at the opening ceremony of the conference in which he reviewed the conditions of Palestinian children and the suffering they are experiencing in light of the current war on the Palestinian people. He presented many recommendations, the most prominent of which are:
– Organizing an Arab conference for Arab children on an annual basis, held every year in a different country. For example, a summer camp can be held that brings Arab
children together in one location.
– Exchange visits between Arab childhood institutions to learn about inspiring success stories that can be generalized to different Arab regions.
– Caring for Arab children in remote and marginalized areas.
– Organizing forums for creative children from Arab countries so that they can be a modern model in keeping pace with modern technology, artificial intelligence and digital communication.
– Securing the travel of activists in this field to Arab countries in order to contribute in a real way to developing interest in childhood in the legal and cultural sector and protection from violence in its various forms.
– Starting to use the media in childhood issues more, including social media and websites, to promote children’s issues and rights more.
Dr. Ghada Abu Rabie from Palestine presented a working paper on the reality of the Palestinian child in the city of Jerusalem under Israeli laws and the forced absence of Palestinian institutions in the city of Jerusalem.
Moro
cco’s participation:
A Moroccan delegation headed by Mr. Mohammed Tiboui from the National Camping University in the Kingdom of Morocco participated in the conference. He provided a comprehensive explanation of the university’s activities towards children and praised the efforts made by Jordan in the field of children’s issues.
Children’s activity in Al-Wahdat camp
Among the conference activities, a special artistic activity was organized for a group of children in Al-Wahdat camp. This activity was organized by specialist Sahar Al-Zamaareh and specialist Bushra Al-Atrash from the Palestinian Yes Theater… A drawing workshop (Color of Palestine) was also organized… Dr. Mai Al-Hindi, the conference chair, participated in the workshops.
Recommendations
The conference participants issued a number of recommendations, the most important of which are:
1. Raising awareness and education for children by working on face-to-face and electronic campaigns to introduce children’s rights and the importance of prote
cting them during conflicts.
2. Strengthening international cooperation through alliances and partnerships and enhancing cooperation between governments, non-governmental organizations, and international bodies to coordinate efforts, provide the necessary assistance, and provide the necessary resources to protect children’s rights.
3. Developing educational emergency plans that ensure the continuity of education in areas affected by conflicts. By developing flexible educational programs that can be applied in unstable conditions, and using technology to support distance education when necessary.
4. Activating laws and agreements that protect children’s rights during armed conflicts, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Additional Protocols. Monitoring and accountability mechanisms should be activated to ensure that children are not exposed to violence and exploitation.
5. Provide urgent and intensive humanitarian support to provide medical, nutritional and psychological care to childr
en affected by conflicts. Through coordination between governments and humanitarian agencies to meet the needs of children as quickly as possible.
6. Intensify efforts to stop the recruitment and use of children in armed conflicts, while supporting rehabilitation and rehabilitation programs for children who have been previously recruited.
7. Communicate with United Nations organizations working in the field of children to support and protect them from being dragged by Israeli laws aimed at destroying them and ridding them of psychological disorders through comprehensive and intensive awareness programs.
8. Strengthen partnerships between governments, non-governmental organizations and the private sector to support children’s rights programs.
9. Review and update laws and legislation to ensure the protection of children’s rights and meet their needs.
10. Establish mechanisms to follow up on the implementation of policies and programs related to children’s rights and evaluate their effectiveness.
11. Enco
urage the involvement of children in decision-making processes related to their issues to ensure that their voices are heard and influential.
12. Develop rapid response strategies and provide immediate psychological assistance to children affected by crises.
13. Design educational curricula that are appropriate for exceptional circumstances and promote the values ??of peace and tolerance, and support distance education technologies.
14. Organize training programs for volunteers that focus on how to deal with refugee children and meet their special needs, including training in cultural sensitivity and psychological awareness.
15. Establish mechanisms to evaluate the impact of volunteer work and collect data to improve future initiatives.
16. Launch psychosocial support programs for children affected by conflicts, and train specialists to deal with trauma cases.
17. Support media investigative reports to document violations and genocides, and enhance cooperation with humanitarian organizations to ensure t
he accuracy of information, while ensuring the protection of witnesses and sources, and adhering to ethical standards when dealing with children and victims.
18. Seek to impose international sanctions on the occupation for violating the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and committing war crimes and genocide.
19. Use media platforms to pressure decision-makers and enhance immediate humanitarian response.
20. Encourage inclusiveness in social activities for people with special needs, by organizing joint activities and events with the rest of their peers and creating inclusive spaces that include all children.
21. Maintain and expand the annual conference that brings together researchers from around the world.
22. Denounce the recruitment of children from Tindouf camps in regional conflicts and wars.
Source: Maan News Agency