Cairo, 24 September 2018- In an official function under the auspices of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM), and with the presence of Dr. Azza Al Ashmawy, Secretary General of NCCM, H.E Ambassador Nabila Makram, Minister of Immigration and Expatriate Affairs, Ambassador Ivan Surkoš, the Head of the European Union Delegation to Egypt and Mr. Bruno Maes, UNICEF Representative in Egypt, the #ImAgainstBullying national Campaign partners marked the success of the campaign and renewed their commitment towards ending all forms of violence against children.

The campaign comes in the context of the EU-supported project ‘Expanding Access to Education and Protection for At Risk Children in Egypt’, through which national efforts to protect children from all types of violence are enhanced.

In addition to the Public Service Announcements reaching millions of viewers on broadcast media and encouraging the community to take an action against bullying, the campaign has been running on various social media platforms disseminating engaging awareness content under the hashtag #ImAgainstBullying. Since its launch, the campaign has inspired millions of social media users among which are children, parents and teachers as well as public figures and celebrities to interact with the hashtag sharing their personal stories, solutions and commitments to end bullying. Several private sector entities have assumed their community responsibility and supported the cause of the campaign by spreading its messages through their different platforms.

The event took place in the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, which embraces the values of tolerance and diversity that come with this campaign.

“The indications of the campaign’s success through the reach of more than 55 million people on social media, the high number of media outlets discussing the issue of bullying, the activation of the Child Helpline in boosting awareness and absorbing the public demand, have all been inspiring,” said Mr. Bruno Maes, UNICEF Representative in Egypt. “But what shows our joint success in this campaign is seeing the first signs of change: when children call or post on social media apologizing to peers whom they have bullied, when teachers share their ideas of initiatives and commitments to stop bullying in their classes, it means attitudes to this violent behavior will start to change.”

As children are the integral part of breaking the circle of bullying, the voices of motivated children have been part of the event, presenting their perspectives and proposed solutions and calling for all children to speak up and act against bullying. The campaign continues on air and on social media until the first week of October, and the partners are hoping for the motivation and actions to end this harmful behavior to continue beyond.

You can view content and multimedia assets of the campaign on the official pages of the partners.

Link to the video

For more information, please contact:

European Union:

Press Officer, Spokesperson: Ayman Elsherbiny, Ayman.ELSHERBINY@eeas.europa.eu

Website: http://eeas.europa.eu/delegation/egypt

Twitter: @EUinEgypt

Facebook: http://ww.facebook.com/EUinEgypt