ROME (ITALPRESS) – “Millions of children and adolescents around the world still face poverty, social exclusion, inequality and denial of basic rights. Protecting children from wars, violence, exploitation and all forms of abuse is not just a legal obligation: it is a moral duty that calls everyone to make the protection of young people a collective priority.” Thus the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella. “Defending the rights of children,” he adds, “means providing them with positive references that can guide their development; it means transmitting to them the value of empathy and solidarity and the importance of responsibility for one’s actions. The increase in episodes of violence among the very young,” the head of state stresses, “requires maintaining a high level of attention in both listening and vigilance, in order to be able to intercept even the smallest sign of distress or suffering. The lack of adequate support can make children and young people more vulnerable and prone to violent behavior, with the risk of also pushing them closer to criminal contexts that offer a false perception of power and belonging. Indiscriminate access to social media and prolonged times of use are, for children, themselves forms of psychological and physical violence that can seriously affect their well-being, health and social relationships. To prevent these risks, it is crucial that families, schools, communities and institutions work together in order to create contexts in which young people can feel valued, listened to and guided, and in which they can have the right to dream, free to imagine a future in which they can express their full potential. Protecting children’s rights means giving society a future, it means making young people the protagonists of their lives,” Mattarella concluded.
(ITALPRESS).
-Photo: Quirinale-
Mattarella “Protecting children is a moral duty and a priority”
