Communication advocated to curb violence

Press, 17 June 1986, Page 8

Communication advocated to curb violence

PA Wellington Early communication with at-risk families is vital in the prevention of juvenile violence, says the president of the New Zealand Committee on Children, Dr Karen Zelas.

The committee, which grew out of the International Year of the Child, has just finished a week-end workshop at the Royal New Zealand Police College.

Dr Zelas said the theme of the workshop was violence in children.

She said no other group in New Zealand considered issues purely from the child’s viewpoint.

Submissions from the workshop would go to Government departments, community groups, and the Committee on Violent Crime headed by Sir Clinton Roper.

Dr Zelas said prevention was better than cure, and early prevention was best of all. Early action could be achieved by funding for the informal community services undertaken in the Maori and Pacific Island communities, and better communication between these groups and Government agencies. Cultural insensitivity towards the Maori and Pacific Island communities was causing low selfesteem among their children, said Dr Zelas. The workshop supported moves by the TVNZ director-general, Mr Julian Mounter, to cut the amount of violence on television, and it was thought television could be used as a tool to make minority group children realise their own worth, she said.