Two Bangladeshi children run EU Facebook page Thursday

Two Bangladeshi children have run the Facebook account of the European Union Delegation in Dhaka on Thursday as part of a global campaign.

The European External Action Service partnered with Plan International to organise a global youth takeover of EU Delegation social media accounts throughout April to celebrate the revised EU Guidelines on the ‘Promotion and Protection of the Rights of the Child’.

They share their views on the challenges children in their countries face, and what more needs to be done to ensure every child’s rights are realised, directly from the Twitter and Facebook accounts of participating EU Delegations.

The Dhaka delegation in a statement said 18-year-old Jahir Rayan and Renaissance posted child rights campaign messages and interacted with the viewers throughout the day on their Facebook page on Thursday. They are the child rights activists of Plan International Bangladesh.

“Through this "Social media takeover," we got the opportunity to hear the viewpoints of two young Bangladeshis on child marriage,” said Ambassador Pierre Mayaudon, head of Delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh.

“We also discussed impediments that school-going girls face in this country. I am happy to learn that today they conducted live sessions on our Facebook to generate opinion and awareness about issues affecting girls in Bangladesh,” he said.

The ambassador said the EU guidelines for the Rights of the Child (2017) “aim at promoting and protecting equally all the rights that children, especially the most marginalised children have in order to ensure that no child is left behind”.

Plan International Bangladesh Country Director Orla Murphy said initiatives such as “youth takeover campaign” help raise awareness and provide a platform for young people to express their views on the issues tied to them.