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Arab States Urged to Improve Protection of Abused
Children
[AMMAN - 25 February 2004] - Guaranteeing
a safe environment at home is critical to addressing the issue of child
abuse, particularly given the desire of so many children to return home
despite past mistreatment, experts concluded today at a regional conference
in Amman, Jordan organised by the International Society for Prevention
of Child Abuse and Neglect.
Many Arab countries, including Jordan, have taken steps in recent years
to offer safe havens for abused children, but the family unit is still
the healthiest place for a child's upbringing, social workers and experts
at the three-day conference said.
But the lack of rehabilitation services, follow-up and intervention to
improve the family's functionality remain obstacles to ensuring the safety
of abused children returning home, they said.
In a paper presented at the conference, British expert Margaret Lynch
said that if tools for intervention did not exist in her country, "60
percent of victims would be back, either injured or possibly dead."
Lynch and other experts recommended strengthening programs to reintegrate
children into their homes and follow up on past cases of abuse.
An editorial in today's Jordan Times commended the commitment to the issue
demonstrated by Jordan and several UN agencies participating in the conference,
including UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights.
But the newspaper lamented the absence of the International Labour Organization
and UNESCO, saying that "without the tools" of those two organizations,
"the ongoing efforts to prevent child abuse and neglect cannot be
complete."
The Jordan Times also called the conference a "beginning" toward
"break[ing] the silence on child abuse and neglect. ... Transparent
discussions of the problem and concrete examples of applications to resolve
it will make the efforts more meaningful and fruitful," it concluded.
[source: UNWire]
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