Ciranda – Center for News on Childhood and Adolescent Rights

Communication activities that help spread the word and enliven the debate with respect to themes related to the violation of children and adolescents’ rights. The idea of the initiative is to continue the creation of a group of adolescents and youth to serve as proponents of the Cup Connection program and mobilize other adolescents and youth on the debate over the impacts of the mega-event and how to confront the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents; instruct teachers and educators on how to recognize signs of child/youth sexual exploitation, so they can report it; and, finally, work with the theme inside schools and contribute to spreading the word about the Protection Network and the System of Rights Guarantees of Paraná.

• Production of seven audiovisual materials for the web containing interviews done by adolescents with professionals in the area of childcare (journalists, advisers, representatives of organizations and other social actors), with information about how to report violations, in order to help the population identify sexual exploitation of children and adolescents and call attention to the fundamental rights of this population;
• Weekly educational workshops in communications targeting audiovisual work and use of social media, with the aim of involving adolescents in the project;
• Training for teachers and educators on how to recognize signs of child sexual exploitation and how to address the topic in the classroom;
• Urban mobilizations and the elaboration and distribution of printed materials to hotels and transportation hubs;
• Holding of a Youth Forum, at the project’s conclusion, grouping together the materials produced and inviting social actors in childcare to discuss the theme through their experience with other projects involving adolescents and youth.

Dial 100, the means for reporting human rights violations to the federal government, registered nearly 275,000 denunciations of violations against children and adolescents between May 2013 and March 2011. Of these, approximately 27,000 were in reference to cases of sexual exploitation of boys and girls, for an average of 294 reports per month.

Documents such as the Porto Velho Letter, fruit of the national event, “The Impact of the Large Construction Projects and the Violations of Children and Adolescents’ Human Rights”, remind us of the importance of coordinated action among all sectors of society to guarantee the rights of boys and girls. The “State Plan to Confront Violence Against Children and Adolescents” (2010-2015) itself describes, under the heading of mobilization and coordination, “promoting the debate on the media’s role in forming public opinion about violence against children and adolescents, in order to curb the criminalization of poverty”.

Ciranda’s mission is to promote and defend the human rights of children and adolescents, developing activities in communications, education, culture and political participation in order to contribute to the construction of a just, solidarity-based and participative reality.

The Center for News on Childhood and Adolescent Rights is composed of the Brazil ANDI Network for Children's Rights; the CEP Network -- National Network of Experiences in Communication, Education and Participation; the Coordination Body of the National Committee for Combating Sexual Violence Against Children and Adolescents; the Brazilian Network of Adolescent and Youth Communicators; the Paraná Front for the Right to Communication and Freedom of Expression.