For a Childhood and Adolescence without Violence

The initiative has been running since 2012, involving religious leaders, children and adolescents, adults, teachers, and media. All religions and faith community participants engage in celebration on the Day of Prayer and Action for Children, which falls on November 20. Religious leaders sign and circulate a joint statement to the media in which they seek to promote positive aspects of childhood and adolescence in Panama and ask for media, through their stories and reports, to promote social policies aimed at adequate protection of childhood and adolescence.

As part of the strategy, mobilising in the schools is done through sensitisation workshops where children learn to know how to identify violence and how it affects their development, as well as present their ideas about ways to reduce violence and abuse in their environments. In parallel, through a social media strategy, the community raises its voice against violence, using Facebook, Twitter and web platforms developed by the institutions involved.

In 2013, the theme for World Day of Prayer and Action for Children was "An adolescent without violence", a message disseminated throughout the month in many media contexts. Meetings between religious leaders, UNICEF, and the media sensitised journalists to use approaches that promote the rights of children.

Many religious leaders shared in their celebrations with their parishioners the messages related to the importance of protecting children and adolescents against violence. As part of the process, approximately 140 students from schools of all religions worked to identify forms of violence that affect them and to develop their leadership and communication skills.

The strategy had high visibility with the publication of a statement signed by all religious and social media leaders in an effort to create a network of more than 400 people per post related to the topic and more than 1,600 "likes" on Facebook. All activities that were promoted invited people to raise their voice for an "adolescence without violence" with the hashtag: #Diadelaoracion and #Endviolence.

In 2014, there was once again a celebration of a Day for a Childhood and Adolescence without Violence, on which religious leaders, signed for the third year, a statement, published in various media, around promoting social policies aimed at the appropriate protection of childhood and adolescence. During the month of November about 300 students were linked through awareness workshops in their schools, including the Pan American Institute, Arab Academy for Columbus, College Rabin, and Badi School.

The entire population was invited to raise their voice through networks to stop violence, and a Sunday Mass was celebrated by the Archbishop of Panama with the presence of leaders of other religious communities, which was televised and transmitted from the Basilica Don Bosco where over 300 children and adolescents participated.

Children, Youth, Rights