And among other things pertaining to the rights of children, UNICEF is gearing up for its ministerial global conference on ending violence against children. Up to 40 stakeholders were in attendance at today's preparatory session and here's what we learned from the attendees.
Michelle Segura, Child Protection Officer, UNICEF
"So today we are meeting to validate the national preparatory session in preparation for the first ministerial global conference on ending violence against children, which is scheduled to take place in Bogota Columbia in early November."
"We hope to validate two outcomes today one is to agree on Belize's success story as it proteins to the child protection system, so what it is that we want to present in November in terms of Belize's success story To end violence against children, so we are looking at a multi sectoral partnership being a possible success story, but also to have at the highest government level the pledge that we hope to present at the ministerial conference in November. What are we going to do differently in Belize to violence against children?"
"We know that Latin America and the Caribbean region is one of the most violent regions in the absence of war compared to Africa and Middle Eastern countries. We know that 65% of children in Belize experience some type of violence and children who are very young start to experience physical violence, sex, sexual violence and verbal violence starting from an early age in Belize."
Dylan Williams, Director Policy and Planning, Human Development
"So part of the commitment that as we are gathering from partners, both government and civil Society is to recognize that when we look at resources, whether it is human resources, financial resources, and otherwise all these inputs necessary are part of strong system, whether it is the prevention side or even the response side that is going to be a big part of the conversation because it is important that this system in terms of the child protection system is adequately resourced for us to be able to ensure that we are preventing her also protecting our children."
