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Kids enough of being beatenUNICEF reported that every second child in Macedonia is a victim of physical violence, and only 7 percent of parents believe that is beaten out of paradise and support this kind of punishment
 
Do not thicken my child, sometimes I hit him a slap when disobedient, but it's nothing so scary because we are all grown, says Skopjanka answering the question if she ever raise hand on her child. Such is the opinion of hundreds of citizens in Macedonia, who do not know or do not want to accept that spanking children is a crime, not punishment.

Children's Fund United Nations (UNICEF) announced yesterday that every second child in Macedonia is a victim of physical violence. Interestingly, only 7 percent of parents believe it is beaten out of paradise and support this kind of punishment as part of the process of education.

Defying the UNICEF data show that children in Macedonia, aged 2 to 14 years are more exposed to violence than their peers in Albania, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The report noted that 54 percent of children in the country are exposed to physical punishment, and only 15 percent of psychological torture, which means that 69 percent suffer psychological and physical violence.

‘’It is impossible to gauge the true scope of violence against children because many things are happening in secret, at home, at school, community and institutions and often from just those adults who are supposed to protect - says Sheldon Yett represent of UNICEF in Macedonia.                   

 

Word stronger that beaten

  We requested a response from educators that spanking children is an effective way of raising children or it is a crime that must be eradicated.

‘’Violence begets violence against children. It teaches children of aggression begets resistance and contributes to weakening the bond between parent and child, link teacher and child or child and child. At the beginning  spanking may seem efficient, but soon it turns out that parents should be hit harder and harder to achieve the same result - says the pedagogue Gordana Pirkovska-Zmijanac first Embassy World Megjashi.

 We made a mini-poll on how many Macedonian citizens beat children. The ten people polled only eight wanted to talk. Six of them admit that they beat the children when they want to point out something that their children did wrong..

 ‘’Never in my life i beat my child.   The word is stronger than the slap, so I always try with words to point out that something wrong - says economist from Skopje.

  Worldwide, UNICEF estimates that, although progress has been made in reducing injuries to children's rights, violence and exploitation are still harsh reality in the lives of many children. Millions of children worldwide are victims of trafficking, no parental care, or personal documents so they can attend school and have access to health care. Millions more are forced to work in harmful conditions, face violence and abuse in their homes, schools, communities, and in many cases exactly the people who should care for them.

 VICTIMS LIVE IN FEAR           

Not only UNICEF but also analyzes Megjashi show a steady increase in violence against children in Macedonia.

- We are concerned by the difficult situation in which there are, unfortunately, many children in Macedonia. Embassy responds, alert, requiring stricter penalties on perpetrators of violence and rape children. When signing up violence or violated the rights of children, are appealing to the Ombudsman, the Attorney General, the Centers for Social Work, ministries, police and schools, and often the media and, in characteristic cases. Data from our SOS helpline for children and youth 0800 1 2222 show rapid growth of violence against children. Registered more than 17,600 calls for these 16 years – says in Megjashi.

 Ombudsman recently conducted research as CSW treated children victims of domestic violence, which are direct or indirect victims. The survey showed that except not keep separate records for children victims of domestic violence centers rarely require interim measures, the courts act and react slowly, and that courts often require the withdrawal of the proposals because there were no legal requirements for imposing a temporary measure

Zmijanac pedagogue explains that not only physical but also psychological violence is a problem.           

   - Screaming and the constant criticism of children can also be harmful to lead to prolonged emotional difficulties. This punishment does not help children to develop self-control and respect for others - says Zmijanac.

    Problematic for these cases is the fact that child victims of violence often report that being mistreated.         

- Fear is one of the main reasons why children are still not talking openly about these phenomena and do not believe that someone would help. Thus, violence remains a long unnoticed by the environment and institutions, and sometimes are going to discover when it is too late when the child's life is in danger – says from  Megjashi.

Aleksandar Manasiev

Problem not solved overnight

Violence against children can not be eradicated overnight, experts explain. A continuous education of the population to create a sound foundation to solve the problem. Experts explain that it is necessary to implement prevention programs in schools to develop skills in nonviolent communication.

Some of the key solutions are: timely intervention campaigns for positive parenting and informing the public, reducing violence in the media and to strengthen and improve police and judicial systems.

It is also necessary to reform the educational system by taking actions and policies for dealing with violence among young. As recently proposed ban on video games where there are explicit scenes of murder and violence, because children identify with and live in violent crime.

Source: http://www.dnevnik.com.mk/?ItemID=CEEF2AFB098A19459645C425786A8A1E

Translated by:
Julijana Kolcheva,
volunteer at First Children’s Embassy in the World Megjashi