The organizing authority: Supreme Council for Family Affairs

Date: 11^th -13^th February 2002

For assuring the vital and fatal role of the mass media in the child's life, the article No. (17) of the Human Rights Convention which represents the legislative frame of the international work plan for child stated the importance of the States Parties' confession of the important function that the different mass media do in the area of guaranteeing the child's accessibility to the information specially the information that aims at promoting his welfare, his social, spiritual and morale benefit, his physical and mental health，guaranteeing his protection from the information that can destroy his interests.

Wishing that children and young people acquire the necessary skills to glaze their characters so they can play their roles in building their societies in the future case, article No. (12) of the Convention stated the importance of the States' Parties guarantee that the child who is able to form his own opinions the right to express these opinions freely  regarding all the issues that touches his/her daily life in accordance with the child's age and maturity.

To achieve these basis and continuing the Arabic and Regional and International activities directed to give the children and young people the chance to listen to their opinions in their issues, the Gulf Media Meeting on Television and Human Rights was held in 11-13 February 2002 which came in coincidence with a Gulf workshop for children lasts for two days.

 Aims of the meeting:

·         Creating a public awareness to media people regarding the issues of childhood.

·         Assuring the role of television in caring and protecting the rights of child.

·         Putting new basis for the children participation in preparing and presenting their television programs.

·         Establishing a partnership and cooperation between workers in the television media field and workers in the field of childhood aiming at reaching a common understanding for the child's rights and find out a base to communicate and coordinate among them.

·         Discussing the challenges that television media addressed to the child face and that it needs extra efforts.

·         Developing the role of Gulf television media associations in promoting the culture of the child and his rights and spreading out the awareness for the workers in this sector and the society in general.

·         Exchanging the experiences between the Gulf television media associations for the purpose of including the culture and the rights of the child - using suitable and effective styles- in the media materials presented by them.

·         Specifying the negative aspects of the children visual programs to work on protecting the child from its disadvantages.

Axes of the meeting:

1.      Reality of the television media addressed to the child.

2.      Role of the television in processing the issues and challenges that child faces.

3.      Impact of television on the child.

4.      Challenges and barriers that bide producing good television programs and directed to the child.

5.      What the children want from the television programs presented for them.

6.      Towards a better future for the television media directed for the children.

For whom is this meeting?

This meeting is addressed to all workers in the area of childhood, researchers in the issues of childhood from media ministries, policy makers, decision takers in the television media directed for the child, professors of universities, directors of television nets, senior producers, writers, child's television programs preparers, television channels directed to the child and researchers in the area of media and NGO interested in childhood.

Outcomes of the meeting:

1.      Standing on the efforts exerted in the area of television media speech addressing the child.

2.      Specifying the barriers that child's television media face.

3.      Conducting Doha Convention regarding (television and Human Rights).

Her Highness Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al-Missned opened the meeting by giving a word that calls for the necessity of finding a societal and media stipulation for the children to demonstrate the task of the educational media in its creative and inventive concept and in the area of family's roles, school and television.