‘It’s Not Normal to Normalize Violence’ Campaign

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) with the support of Germany through KFW Development Bank and in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and the Ministry of Information launched an awareness campaign on the negative impact of violent media content on children and the work needed to tackle and monitor the exposure of children to this type of content across several media channels.

This campaign is complementary to UNDP’s continuous efforts to set medium and long-term strategies for peacebuilding and conflict resolution education in Lebanon, as well as spreading and strengthening awareness of the impact of violence in all its forms, with the aim of reducing conflict and strengthening social cohesion.   

This campaign is targeted at parents, teachers, and the media given the collective responsibility they share to make sure that the right content reaches children, and that the latter are not exposed to violent content that can affect their behavior and mental health. The campaign is also targeted at the youth to increase their knowledge on the impact of violent media content and to encourage them to stop the spread of fake news that can instigate unnecessary social tensions. 

UNDP has been working since 2007 to strengthen tolerance and social cohesion. It has also been working since 2013 to address the impact of the various crises in Lebanon by supporting different categories of society - like local leaders, teachers, youths, journalists, media presenters, and civil society activists - in developing medium and long-term strategies for peacebuilding, crisis management, conflict prevention, and conflict avoidance.