UN mission in DR Congo launches child protection campaign in strife-ridden province

The United Nations peacekeeping operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has launched a child protection campaign in a war-ravaged eastern province of the African nation.

The UN mission, known by its French acronym as MONUC, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and local authorities expect the initiative, focused in north-eastern Oriental province, to sensitize the public to the rights of children and create a protective environment for them.

Using various media outlets, the campaign plans to flood the public with broadcast and published messages on children’s rights until 20 November, marking Universal Children’s Day.

MONUC kicked off the campaign yesterday in the city of Kisangani with a two-day sensitization session for 30 journalists on the rights of the child under international and national law.

At the session’s opening of the mission’s interim Bureau Chief in Kisangani, Idrissa Ba, expressed concern over continuing attacks on children’s rights in Oriental province.

In March, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that in a six month period almost 1,000 Congolese had been murdered by the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and some 750 abducted, the vast majority of them children, whom the group is notorious for forcing into combat or utilizing as sex slaves.

Mr. Ba underscored the importance of the targeting the media in the campaign, saying that journalists “are capable of distributing messages to the general public that encourage the development of attitudes and behaviours favourable to the respect of children’s rights.”

The initiative includes several other sensitization training and workshop sessions for different civil society groups, and will end next month with organized exhibitions and activities with and for children.