UNICEF Lebanon calls for end to violent discipline of children

UNICEF Lebanon has launched a campaign to end violent discipline of children and to encourage positive parenting in homes, schools and communities.

The campaign, which kicked off June 12th to coincide with World Day Against Child Labour, uses the catchphrase "I want to raise you without violence".

Launched in partnership with the Ministry of Social Affairs, it calls on parents and caregivers to ensure a safe environment for children and to seek alternative discipline methods, UNICEF said in a statement.

Although 69% of Lebanese know it is harmful to hit a child, more than six in 10 children are still subjected to violent discipline every month, UNICEF said.

According to a UNICEF household survey conducted in 2016, more than 57% of children in Lebanon between the ages of 1 and 14 "experience a form of violent discipline, be it physical or psychological, from a parent or caregiver".

These children come from diverse socio-economic backgrounds and from all religions and cultures, the organisation said.

The campaign focuses on positive child rearing and alternative methods of discipline at home, in schools and in the community and aims to foster collective responsibility for the safe and healthy growth of children.

"The ministry's strategy is to enhance the protection of children in Lebanon in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child," said Minister of Social Affairs Pierre Bou Assi.

Shedding light on the issue

Statistics show more than 57% of children in Lebanon are subjected to physical violence and violent reprimand by their parents, said Zaman Ali Hassan, the UNICEF officer in charge of the child protection programme in Lebanon.

"It was necessary to shed light on this issue, because violence against children – in any of its many types or forms – occurs in all social environments and classes," she told Al-Mashareq.

UNICEF's survey has shown that the proportion of children subjected to violence is similar in all Lebanese regions, she added.

"This has compelled us to work with the Ministry of Social Affairs to raise awareness, build skills and provide parents with tools to raise their children away from the language of violence," Hassan said.

The aim is to help parents "cope with the pressures of life, which is a major cause for the resort to violence", she said.

Social media outreach

The campaign has been launched on "all social networking sites to reach all parents throughout Lebanon, to change their behaviour", Hassan said.

UNICEF's new campaign "is very important", said Maria Semaan, child protection programme co-ordinator at Kafa (enough) Violence and Exploitation.

This is because "it casts the spotlight on violent upbringing and parents' ignorance of its negative impact on the psyche of their children", she told Al-Mashareq.

The campaign "complements what we at the Kafa organisation started in the area of child protection in 2008", she said.

"We develop materials, guides and training activities aimed at adolescents, parents and caregivers" to help them change violent attitudes, she said.

Kafa drafts manuals to train specialists who work with children and parents to establish positive child rearing practices in Lebanese communities and refugee camps, Semaan said.