“You should not be silent about the violence” campaign in Macedonia

The First Children's Embassy in the World Megjashi is conducting a campaign under the slogan "You should not be silent about the violence". The main goal is to inform the public about the violence that the children in Macedonia are facing. It is necessary to talk about the violence against children as it can cause serious and long lasting psychological harm. Fear, insecurity, low self-esteem, lack of information and lack of confidence in the institutions that are obliged to provide care and protection are the most common reasons why children are quiet about the violence and are not willing to reveal it and report it.
The idea for this campaign comes from analyzing the data taken from the work of the SOS helpline for children and youth in the past few years. There is a constant increase in number of reports about violence and abuse against children. In the past few years, most of the reports on the SOS helpline were made from adults, witnesses of the violence and abuse against the children.
The goal of this campaign is to encourage the children victims of abuse and violence to talk about it and to report it on the SOS helpline for children and youth 0800 1 2222. The SOS helpline is a public service which is recognized among the citizens as an instrument that provides psychosocial help and support for the problems they are facing with. The call of the SOS helpline is free of charge for the lines of T-home. The calls are answered by trained volunteers with different educational background (psychologists, social workers, pedagogues, family counselors, law consultants). They give part of their free time, knowledge, and experience in order to create better world for the children. The SOS service cooperates with the Free Legal Service, which sends reactions and notifications to various governmental institutions depending on the problem.
The First Children's Embassy of the World Megjashi is conducting this campaign in cooperation with Akzent Media as a media partner. The slogan "You should not be silent about the violence" is placed on an illustration with a sad and lonely child by the phone. Twenty billboards based on the illustration were prepared and placed across the territory of the Republic of Macedonia.