Declaration of the Asia-Pacific Television Forum on Children and
Youth
7 February 2001
Seoul, Republic of Korea
We, some 100 members of the broadcasting community, have gathered
in Seoul, Republic of Korea, from 5-7 February 2001 for the Asia-Pacific
Television Forum on Children and Youth. We particularly welcome
the first-ever participation in a regional television gathering
by several Pacific Island nations and look forward to even stronger
participation from the Pacific in the future. Over the course of
this three-day Television Forum we have focussed on a variety of
issues related to the production of high quality and relevant news,
educational and entertainment programming for and about children
and youth.
We are fully aware that under the internationally accepted Children's
Television Charter (addendum I), which has been reaffirmed in this
region by the Asian Declaration on Child Rights and the Media (addendum
II), the television industry committed itself to producing programming
for and about children that respects and upholds the rights enshrined
in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
As stated in the Television Charter, we recognize and accept our
"obligation to entertain, inform, engage and enlighten"
children and youth in accordance with the principles of the Convention
on the Rights of the Child.
In view of the Global Movement for Children and the September 2001
UN Special Session on Children that will lay the foundation of a
new development agenda for children, we recognize that much more
work needs to be done to promote and fully protect the rights of
children and youth and fulfil our obligation to them.
Therefore, we hereby call upon the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union
(ABU) and Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA),
their member broadcasters and all regional and national broadcast
organizations, to:
1. Make the Television Charter and Asian Media Declaration the
standard used by broadcasters to measure and evaluate their record
in providing high quality and relevant television programming for,
about and by children and youth.
2. Establish mechanisms in partnership with regional broadcast
associations to disseminate information on "best practices"
that will serve to promote the production of high quality and relevant
programming for, about and by children and youth. This can be carried
out by providing space on web sites, in newsletters or at regular
annual meetings to discuss best practices in children and youth
programming and to explore additional ways such programming can
help to promote children's rights.
3. Recognize exceptional efforts by Asia-Pacific broadcasters to
uphold and promote the rights of children and youth by establishing
a special ABU-CASBAA "UNICEF" annual award in the area
of news, education and entertainment programming.
4. Work toward the establishment of a regional/national television
fund, supported by the private sector as part of its contribution
to the Global Movement for Children, that would be used to facilitate
the development of production capacity for innovative and developmentally
appropriate programming for, about and by children and youth.
5. Support efforts to facilitate the production of high quality
and relevant programming for children and youth, such as the ABU's
Working Party for Children.
6. Request and encourage government/public service broadcasters
to allocate both additional resources and air time for high quality
and relevant programming for, about and by children and youth, including
entertainment and educational programming.
7. Encourage the building of stronger partnerships between the
region's broadcasters and development organizations in promoting,
publicizing and forwarding the Global Movement for Children, the
outcome of the UN Special Session on Children, the new development
agenda for children and all other efforts aimed at securing and
protecting the rights of children and youth to survival, protection,
development, participation and a healthy and sustainable environment.
8. Use the occasion of the annual International Children's Day
of Broadcasting to promote and publicize the Global Movement for
Children and the new development agenda and encourage the regular
participation of children and youth in the production of television
programming for, about and by them.
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