Media focuses on protecting women against violence

The Audiovisual Regulatory Workshop held its closing session last Tuesday which was called on by the National Media Council, in collaboration with the European Union, MedMedia for Euro-Mediterranean Media Cooperation and the Italian Communications Regulatory Authority. One of the axis of the above workshop which focused on ‘discrimination against women’ saw the participation of the deputy board head of the Croatian Regulatory Authority, and interventions from Dr. Nahawand Qadri, Mona Fares and Dr Antoine Matta. Recommendations were issued at the end of the session which called for the following: 1) develop a mechanism to monitor violations against the dignity of women and infringements on her rights as a human being through a close follow-up of the media performance, 2) readdress the provisions of the media law to the effect of protecting women and banning any exploitation of their  image, 3) establish binding legal provisions that prevent any publicity or media material that are demeaning to women, particularly advertisements that portray her as a sex object, and finally, 4) enhance the contribution of the media in combatting domestic violence and endorsing women’s participation in public life, with special emphasis on the municipal and parliamentary women representation quota. (Al Mustaqbal, May 25, 2016)