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MoTC Takes Part in International Conference of Future Generation

 

Doha – Qatar

The Ministry of Transport and Communications is taking part in the International Conference of Future Generation organized by the Childhood Cultural Center (CCC) at the Qatar National Convention Center this December 7-8.

The event is part of global celebrations marking the Universal Children’s Day that falls on November 20 every year.

The Digital Society Department and the Qatar Assistive Technology Center (MADA) represent the Ministry at the event with two booths at the sideline exhibition, which features 28 articles of the Convention of the Rights of the Child. The State of Qatar is one of the Convention’s signatory countries.

Digital Society Department displays some of the Ministry’s initiatives that aim at raising Internet safety awareness. One of them is the SafeSpace website that helps protect children online and educate users about Internet safety topics, in addition to providing information, sources and tips for parents, educators and young people on how to use and benefit from the Internet safely and without giving up the values and best practices that guarantee safe online navigation.

The booth also features the Haseen program – a phased Internet safety and security awareness program for students. It was developed cooperatively by the Ministry and the Supreme Education Council and officially launched in February 2015 to teach schoolchildren how to think critically and behave online by raising their awareness and developing an informed and healthy cybersafety culture across the Qatari society. Designed for male and female students, the program educates children and youth how to use technologies safely, responsibly and ethically.

The Digital Society Department’s booth reflects the role Qatar plays to put Article 17 of the Convention into action in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2017-2022. Article 17 reads, “State Parties recognize the important function performed by the mass media and shall insure that the child has access to information and material from a diversity of national and international sources, especially those aimed at the promotion of his or her social, spiritual and moral well-being and physical and mental health.”

MADA’s booth emphasizes the State of Qatar’s efforts to achieve Article 23, which reads; “State Parties recognize that a mentally or physically disabled child should enjoy a full and decent life, in conditions which ensure dignity, promote self-reliance and facilitate the child’s active participation in the community.