UNITED Nations Special Representative Dr Najat Maalla M’jid is arguing that the ban on the playing of lewd music on radio is not the most feasible solution as there are other alternatives to access the content.

M’jid, during an exclusive interview with the Jamaica Observer on Tuesday, noted that she is concerned about the societal acceptance of violence and the negative impact it has on children.

“Children who are exposed to violence can become violent and impacted in their emotional health. You have to be very careful,” said M’jid who is the special representative of the secretary general for violence against children.

“I’m not sure banning something is good because you have other ways — the dark net — when you ban the thing, it becomes more attractive. We need to understand first why there is a promotion of violence and when adults are promoting violence they should be sanctioned on it because we cannot promote violence, we cannot promote hate speech, discrimination, xenophobia,” she added.

M’jid said the artistes who promote violence are poor role models for the youngsters who view them as ‘heroes’.

“When children listen to violence, they have their heroes and they want to be like their heroes. We have to be careful. Yes, freedom of expression is important but when it impacts children’s mental well-being and when it pushes to violence, it is concerning,” she said.

“If you are singing about killings…this is promotion on pushing to violence. It has to be stopped but we need to understand why. Even if you stop, it will reappear by another means,” she added.

Last Tuesday, the Broadcasting Commission issued a directive requiring broadcasters to immediately stop airing any audio or video which promotes scamming, abuse of drugs, illegal or harmful use of guns or any form of criminal activity.

The commission said this includes live editing and original edits (eg edits by producer/label) as well as the use of near-sounding words as substitutes for offensive lyrics, expletives, or profanities.

In May, during a Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange, several youth from primary and high schools across Jamaica pointed out that lewd music has a destructive effect on young minds.

According to M’jid, violence includes exposure to violent content. She noted that there needs to be a push for more positive messages.

“Where are the protective messages, and peaceful values? There is also the question about why we have arrived at this stage and why they listen more of these songs. We need to start thinking about what kind of leadership we need because when we are young we have dreams and we want to look like some persons but the problem is, who are the current leaders,” she said.