The National Commission for Child Rights (KNDL) called on the National Election Commission (CNE) to establish formal regulations banning political parties from involving children in their campaign activities.
Commissioner Maria Barreto said they had had discussions with the National Election Commission (CNE) about the need to prioritize child protection issues and prevent any violations occurring.
“There should be clear regulations about child protection in the process of presidential and parliamentary election campaigns so that every political party takes this into consideration and gives priority to the protection of children’s rights during the campaign,” she said.
She called for comprehensive regulations to be introduced and also asked parents to take responsibility as children sometimes attended campaign activities with their families.
She said monitoring results from previous elections showed that political parties were involved in organizing children to distribute promotional material such as pamphlets and t-shirts during the campaign.
In some cases children had also been involved in car accidents during street parades and the political parties concerned had not taken responsibility.
Meanwhile, she said KNDL was continuing to increase awareness about the issue among families so that they did not allow their children to participate in the political process.
According to the Timor-Leste constitution, only those who have reached the legal voting age of 17 years and up are allowed to participate in political campaigns.
Meanwhile, Coordinator of the Dili branch of Fretilin Florentina Smith acknowledged that there was a lack of proper controls from both political parties and families as the reality showed that many children were involved in political campaigns during elections.
“Families have a big responsibility to control their children during the campaign process from the initial stages until the end, as it can create the violence and accidents that may affect children’s lives,” she said.
“It’s important that the police work with the xefe sukus (village chiefs) and inform the communities to prevent children’s involvement in campaign activities”.
Although taking part in campaign rallies is a Timorese tradition, she said children should not be involved in such high risk activities.
