On the World Day of Prevention of Child Abuse
Gaza Community Mental Health Programme conducts a workshop on
"Protection of Children from Violence in Media"

Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) organized a workshop on the occasion of World Day of Prevention of Child Abuse entitled "Protection of Children from Violence in Media". The workshop took place at the Grand Palace Hotel in Gaza city and was attended by a number of professionals, academics and media personnel who discussed the issue of children exposure to violence in the media.

The workshop was chaired by Husam El-Nounou, Public Relations Director of GCMHP who gave a brief review of the workshop and talked about the anniversary of world day for prevention of child abuse, stressing the issue of child protection that GCMHP is working diligently on.

The first speaker was Dr. Joltan Hejazi, Professor of Psychology at Al-Aqsa University, who gave a brief presentation on the Palestinian media experience and its relations with educational, professional principles, and laws of child Protection.

The second speaker was Ms. Azza Mohaisen, Head of mental health education at the Ministry of Education, who introduced the relationship between violence in media and level of violence among school students.

Moreover, Dr. Abel Aziz Thabet, Consultant of Child Psychiatry at (GCMHP) presented the negative mental health consequences, mainly, on academic, behavioral performance and family relations as a result of children's exposure to media violence.

In the second session of the workshop, strategies of child protection from violence in media were formulated by the participants. In this respect, Ms. Amal Khdair, from Culture and Free Thought Association, talked about dealing with significance of dealing with violence against children stating that, "Building a child is more worthy than reforming an individual". Furthermore, Mr. Osama Frena and Ms. Enas Jouda, Psychologists at GCMHP, discussed the impacts of media violence on children and means of psychological intervention. They asserted that exposure to violence in media leads to negative psychological scares that could be beyond the control of mental health intervention.

At the end of the workshop, many recommendations were highlighted for reduction of violence in the media and protection of children.

Through discussions and interpositions, the participants highlighted the negative short-term and long-term mental heath consequences of children's frequent exposure violent scenes in the media, particularly the Palestinian children who are exposed on a daily basis to news presenting pictures of murdering and massacres as well as aggressive cartoons. Furthermore, the participants proposed to form a committee that oversees the production of child-oriented programs and observing all TV materials prior broadcasting and removing all violence scenes for the sake of protection of children.

Gaza Community Mental Health Organization