Respected, National Roma Centrum (NRC) is hereby reacting to the video clip published on Kajgana’s portal in November 2006 in the humour and satire category, and unofficially the same recording is used by some owners of mobile phones. The video clip published on the Macedonian site of Kajgana, and this kind of children’s representation in media, is representing brutal violation of children’s rights. We strongly condemn this act and we urge to find any and all perpetrators and culpable persons. We demand and urge for investigation to be carried out in order to discover the identity of the child, and of the culpable persons as well. Today is 20 of November, World Day of the Child, and Republic of Macedonia has sighed the Convention on the Rights of the Child and is obliged to respect the rights and obligations under this Convention. In 1993, the Republic of Macedonia ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and in 2003, it ratified the two Optional Protocols to the Convention. In this respect, we remind you of:

  • Article 3 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child:
  1. In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.
  • Article 16 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child:
  1. No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his or her honour and reputation.
  2. The child has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
  • Article 23 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child:
  1. States Parties recognize that a mentally or physically disabled child should enjoy a full and decent life, in conditions which ensure dignity, promote self-reliance and facilitate the child’s active participation in the community.

With such an approach in the work of the media and publishing events and materials on WEB sites, basic rights of the child are endangered which are guaranteed with national legislation and international instruments for legal protection. All relevant subjects in Republic of Macedonia should help to document violence, prevent it and to protect the child, in discovering the identity of perpetrators and all persons involved.

With respect Asmet Elezovski

nrc Reactions