Excerpts of the 2007 Lebanese report on the prevention of child abuse and neglect [CAN] and violence against children [VAC].

The prevention of child abuse and neglect [CAN] is a sustained and long-standing teamwork. Since the regional 2005 UNSV conference in Cairo, the CRC Geneva meeting in 2006 and the UNSV remarks in 2007, Lebanon has continued to join efforts in order to control CAN and VAC. This report summarizes the realizations and pitfalls in the Lebanese experience, in terms of needs, analysis, procedures, networking, challenges and vision. These initiatives were hindered by the war on Lebanon in July 2006 and are still challenged by the current unstable socio-political situation. Despite many obstacles, the multisectoral perspective still works, in the presence of a high level of common understanding of child rights. Within the Higher Council for Childhood, the grass rooting initiative still relies on political decision, local and national human resources, regional expertise and international cooperation, seeking for a national strategy for child protection in Lebanon. Heath professionals in Lebanon have a prominent role in this framework, in terms of diagnostic skills, referral, networking, awareness and advocacy.