Journalists trained in child abuse reporting

by Junior Jarvis in Barbados

Media practitioners from Barbados and the OECS region gathered at the United Nations House in Barbados on Wednesday for a one-day training workshop focusing on child abuse reporting.{{more}}

The workshop, facilitated by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), saw editors, reporters and radio announcers from the host country, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Lucia, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as officials from child and family care services, meet to discuss responsible reporting of child abuse in their respective countries.

Topics dealt with at the session included child abuse in the Eastern Caribbean, impact of child sexual abuse on children, facts and myths of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the media as advocates for children.

Case studies of actual incidents were examined, as participants discussed ways to expose child abuse without violating not only a child’s rights but also those of parents and other family members.

The sessions were conducted by Heather Stewart, UNICEF Child Protection Officer for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Dr. Lisa McClean-Trotman, UNICEF Program Communications Specialist, Ena Trotman Jemmott and Clementia Eugene.

A two-day symposium on child abuse awareness and prevention was held prior to the workshop.

Searchlight was represented by Junior Jarvis.