Press statement | 21.06.2016

Protectction of identity of children victims of violence

Following the media coverage of current events in society, especially when it comes to children, Human Rights Ombudsman of Bosnia and Herzegovina observed that there is still a practice of media reporting on cases of violence against children in a way that does not ensure the protection of their identity.

Ombudspersons express their concern for not taking sufficiently effective measures to protect the identity of children in the media when they are victims of sexual or any other form of violence. Although the full name of the child is not revealed, but only initials, the child’s identity is often indirectly discovered by publishing pictures or information about other family members, place where the child lives and the like.

This topic was the subject of the Ombudsman's Special report entitled "Recommendations for better protection of the child’s to privacy when these rights have been violated by the media in Bosnia and Herzegovina" in 2012 (www.ombudsmen.gov.ba). Unfortunately, a few years later there has been no significant progress in this area.

Therefore, Ombudspersons take this opportunity to highlight the importance and role of the media in protecting the children, and invite the media when reporting on cases of violence against children to exercise due care and caution and to show responsibility while assessing all possible negative consequences for the child or his family that might be caused by unprofessional reporting on children.

Ombudspersons also indicate to the necessity of finding balance between the privacy of a person against the public interest for certain information in all the cases, in particular when it comes to children.

Sensationalism in reporting on children can only cause further violations of the children’s rights and the additional trauma. Ombudspersons point out that the media should use its influence and the role to promote positive contents related to the children.

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