Knesset, UNICEF fund launch awareness campaign on violence against children

“We must eradicate this phenomenon and clarify – as a society – that violence is simply not an option,” says MK Orly Levy-Abecassis.

By LIDAR GRAVÉ-LAZI
ORLY LEVY-ABECASSIS. (photo credit: KNESSET)
ORLY LEVY-ABECASSIS.
(photo credit: KNESSET)
The Knesset Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Israeli Fund for UNICEF (IFU) have joined UNICEF branches around the world to support the international body’s project aimed at ending violence against children.
“We must eradicate this phenomenon and clarify – as a society – that violence is simply not an option,” MK Orly Levy-Abecassis (Likud Beytenu) said Monday ahead of a Knesset event promoting child rights.
Each year UNICEF chooses an area of child rights that deserves special attention.
Last July it launched a global initiative calling for an end to all forms of violence against children, including verbal, physical and sexual abuse, and also child trafficking.
The campaign features a video appeal by the actor Liam Neeson, a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, and is seeking to raise awareness through social media sites such as YouTube and Twitter with the tag #ENDviolence against children.
The Israeli effort includes a poster set to be distributed in schools throughout the country.
Designed by Israeli students, it is geared to encourage awareness and promote public discourse on the issue, as well as to ensure that children know they have the right to make their voices heard.
IFU is the Israeli arm of UNICEF, the largest and most important international humanitarian organization for children, working in almost 200 countries as part of the UN. The global body draws its authority from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
IFU works to strengthen the voice of children throughout the country, promote their rights and raise awareness of issues impacting their lives and welfare. It also promotes legislation, education and advocacy, builds partnerships to implement CRC, organizes volunteer groups and raises funds. In addition, it works to make Israel a partner in UNICEF’s global work to save children from poverty, hunger, disease, war and emergencies.


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