Staff Correspondent

Speakers at a programme called on journalists to raise awareness on prevention of sexual abuse and exploitation of children with disabilities.

Journalists have a great scope to raise awareness on the issue of protecting the rights of children with disabilities, who are at risk of violence. The sensitive role, played by journalists, can help create an atmosphere for ensuring the rights of the vulnerable children, they said.

If the journalists, through their continued writings, highlight the issue of protecting the rights of children with disabilities, it would be easier to raise awareness on the issue, motivating the policymakers to address the issue properly, they said.

They made the observations while addressing an opinion exchange meeting, organized by Centre for Services and Information on Disability (CSID), with journalists at CSID office at Baitul Aman Housing Society at Adabor in the capital.

The event was held as part of the ‘New Venture Fund’ project titled ‘Protection of Children with Disabilities through Capacity Building and Advocacy at different Levels’.

With the financial support of USA-based donor ‘New Venture Fund’, the project aimed at holding advocacy at different levels, including the government, families and community, for raising awareness on the issue of preventing sexual violence against children with disabilities.

Being implemented by CSID, an organization working for protecting the rights of people with disabilities, the yearlong project (started from Sept 2023) is also aimed at imparting training to children with disabilities on how to protect themselves from sexual abuse and exploitation.

Iftekhar Ahmed, Director of CSID, attended as the chief guest, while Bipul Kumar Chakroborty, Programme Manager of CSID, was in the chair on Wednesday.

Other officials of CSID were present.

The attending journalists shared their opinions on the importance of the issue, saying that they would try their best in protecting the rights of the children.