Dehumanising and insensitive
Advocacy groups criticise posting images of children displaced by hurricane on social media.
Two advocacy groups have condemned the emerging practice of aid donors posting on social media images and videos of children displaced by Hurricane Melissa, describing it as insensitive and arguing that it poses a risk of long-term emotional and psychological impacts.
“It is not only dehumanising but strips children of the only thing many of them have left — their dignity,” Africa Stephens, executive founder of Fi We Children Foundation, said in a news release on Sunday.
“We must be guided by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Jamaica ratified in 1991. Article 3 clearly states that in all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration,” Stephens added.
Stephens said that while it is natural to want to document the rebuilding process, such actions must never compromise a child’s dignity or safety.
Hear the Children’s Cry spokeswoman Priscilla Duhaney agreed.
She told the Jamaica Observer on Monday that it is imperative that the social, mental, emotional, physical, and physiological well-being of these children are protected.
“We stand firmly on all principles that protect and preserve the innocence of our children. Their dignity and their rights are paramount in all circumstances. The fact that we have photos and videos being released with children’s faces exposes them to the media, and digital footprint is permanent,” Duhaney said.
She added that children can become victims of paedophilia as there are always perpetrators and predators actively seeking to abuse children and capitalise on their vulnerability.
“When it comes on to mental health or the emotional trauma that can take place, it might not have an immediate effect, but we know that in the future, at various points in time, it can affect children’s lives when they do things or things are done to them,” she said.
Duhaney told the Observer that while bringing awareness is important, people will have to learn to strike a balance between what is too much and what is too little.
“The fact of the matter is, if you are doing an interview — just like many other interviews and stories that are done from time to time — what is oftentimes done to protect the identity of our children is not using their particular photo or names,” she said.
