Tirana, 08 November 2021 – CRCA/ECPAT Albania launched online officially today the National Campaign Against Violence on Children, as part of the one-month Blue Ribbon month in Albania. The online campaign was opened with a message from the Speaker of the Albanian Parliament, Mrs. Lindita Nikolla, addressed to society, parents and teachers, calling for the elimination of violence against children.
Three days ago, CRCA / ECPAT Albania launched the “Blu Ribbon”- a one month campaign that started with a protest in front of the Albanian Parliament, demanding for an immediate revision of the Law on the Rights of the Child and the Criminal Code.
This year, the Blue Ribbon will take place from 5-25 November 2021, with the main goal to raise awareness of parents, family, society and institutions to prevent any form of violence against children, wherever it occurs.During this month we will focus on informing children and public where they can report incidents of violence, where they can seek help and why violence is so harmful to everyone.
The opening of the Online Awareness Campaign has been entrusted to two figures who have always been by the side of children in the fight for their rights: the President of Albania, Mr. Ilir Meta and the Speaker of the Albanian Parliament, Mrs. Lindita Nikolla.
November is the month of the three most important days in the children’s rights calendar: 18 November, European Day on Violence against Children; 19 November, International Day on Violence and Exploitation against Children; and 20 November, Child Rights International Day.
In this context, CRCA / ECPAT Albania, BARNAHUS Albania and ISIGURT.AL invite civil society organizations, Ministries, Municipalities, Child Protection Units, MPs, international agencies and diplomatic corps, parents and children, teachers to become part of this one-month awareness campaign for the prevention of violence against children. The campaign is supported by the UNDP Office, within the initiative “Protection of girls and women from gender-based violence in Albania”.
For the first time in Albania, the Blue Ribbon campaign was celebrated on 18-19 November 2020, with a series of activities, including the Marathon against Violence on Children, led by BARNAHUS Albania and CRCA / ECPAT Albania, with the support of the President of the Republic, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, national and international partners.
The Blue Ribbon Campaign has its origins in the spring of 1989, when Bonnie Finney of Virginia lost her nephew, Michael Dickenson. The three-year-old died at the hands of her daughter’s abusive boyfriend. Bonnie tied a blue ribbon to her car radio antenna – symbolizing the blue of her nephew’s body bruises – and encouraged the community where she lived to do the same, to raise public awareness of violence against children. Over the past 30 years, Blue Ribbon Month has become an international event, bringing together communities to come out in defense of children.