Union of West Africa Coalitions on Child Rights (UWAC) capacity building workshop for media representatives in the ECOWAS sub-region

The workshop which was organised by the Union of West Africa Coalitions for Children (UWAC) brought together participants from 15 West African countries to build their capacities with regard to the promotion and protection of children’s rights.Delivering her opening statement, the Togolese minister of Social Action, Women and Literacy Promotion, Mrs Dede Ahoefa EKOUE welcomed the participants in her country, while describing the workshop as a very important issue as children are the leaders of tomorrow. The media, she said, plays an important role in the protection and promotion of child rights because it is a platform were the requirements of children such as education among others is transmitted to the concerned authorities mainly the state. Minister Ekoue said through the work of the media in the protection of the rights of children can contribute to encourage children to participate in things that affect their lives and this can positively impact the lives of the children. For her part, the minister of Communication Anate G. Koumeato affirmed her government’s commitment to the promotion of human rights, noting that journalists are the key actors of human rights. She commended the organizers for giving the media an avenue to build knowledge on child rights protection. She however urged the participants to make good use of the opportunity given to them in order to be able to maximize the gains from the workshop with their colleagues in their respective countries.
The president of the UWAC Sidikou Moussa informed that the workshop is targeted to give journalists instruments and to also build their capacity in other for them (journalists) to give more concentration to child rights in their write-ups in the West African sub-region. According to him, there cannot be improvement on the protection of the rights of children when there is inadequate knowledge in the subject matter by journalists. Other speakers include Adodo Marck Chile, the chairman of FODDET who gave the welcoming remarks.