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Mauritius: "Violence is sometimes socially and culturally accepted"
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L'Express (Port Louis)
INTERVIEW
21 November 2007
Posted to the web 22 November 2007
Pauline Etienne
Port Louis
On Monday, you held a talk on the children's rights, respect and responsibility. Why is it necessary to talk of children's responsibilities?
Some children do forget that, when one has rights, one must also respect the rights of others. But then so do adults. And it is more shocking when adults act irresponsibly. Children learn from us and sometimes develop what is considered "anti-social behaviour" because they have been neglected, ill-treated or abused.
They may have no one who cares enough for them to give them self-confidence to enjoy life. Some children, on the other hand, are spoilt by parents who forget it is their duty to put limits. The main responsibility is on adults who must rear children in an atmosphere of understanding and respect.
Teachers and carers say they no longer know how to deal with children as actions could be seen as undermining their rights...
Teachers must have natural authority and schools must have clear rules to be introduced at the beginning of each academic year and discussed with parents AND children. Children must be involved so that they adhere to these rules and the related sanctions. But these sanctions must be adapted to the situation and respect the rules of natural justice.
In our Kit on the prevention of violence against children at school, we propose methods of constructive discipline, developed by experts who have researched this issue for several years. We hope that teachers and all those who work with schools will see the pertinence of adopting these approaches. If everyone understands that schools must be child-friendly and the curriculum must respond to children's needs and appeal to them, children will just love going to school and learn better.
Many campaigns for children's rights have been held - to fight violence. Have they proved effective?
I think that nowadays more people are sensitised. We can judge this by the number of cases reported either to my office or to the Child Development Unit. I would not venture to say, however, that the number of cases have decreased since violence is sometimes socially and culturally accepted even in such a peaceful place as Mauritius. It does take time to touch those who perpetuate violence and believe they are doing so for the child's benefit. This is particularly true regarding corporal punishment, which is accepted as an educative value. While it has been proved to be counter-productive and cause physical as well as psychological harm.
Can we say that the Mauritian authorities are more aware of the problems of violence against children?
Definitely. I am convinced that our efforts both locally, regionally and internationally are having a positive impact. The UN World Report on Violence against Children is a turning point. We must all use it as a tool to understand the implications of all forms of violence against children but also the kind of society that we want to live in. So many adults have endured violence during their childhood, when they were vulnerable, that they hear our messages and realise how the perpetrators of such violence on them were wrong. They are still suffering from these dark periods of their lives.
Some of them have been resilient and are leading very successful lives. Some may not have been victims but they may have been witnesses of violence, specially domestic violence. Deep down, they know that it still hurts. If we can reach out to them from afar to tell them that they now have the possibility to get over their own suffering by making sure that other children will not endure what they have been through, I am sure that we will break the cycle of transgenerational violence.
Are children more aware of their own rights?
More children are now aware of their rights. Some are even actively using positive peer pressure and helping other children. They were excellent during the event on Rights, Respect and Responsibility, the new three Rs. which they seemed to understand perfectly. They showed how responsible and mature youngsters can be if they are given the right of participation and receive training on matters that concern them.
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They gave the minister a list of proposals from the National Children's Forum, which was set up after the workshop in July last at the University of Mauritius. These are sometimes idealistic but they mostly see things in a very good perspective. They give us hope for the future.
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