example, is in the section related to Advertising Rules and Regulations where several clauses seek to prevent harm to children caused by advertising27. This ethos of emphasising the need to prevent children from harmful effects of the media while ignoring its potential for being a positive force in children’s lives and their development is also evident in the Broadcasting Commission’s regulations aimed specifically at children. For instance, the Commission is currently engaged in the process of drafting Guidelines for the Protection of Children in Broadcasting. As the title suggests, the Guidelines are for protecting children from harmful effects of the media—there are no similar guidelines for children’s participation and inclusion in the media, the formulation of which is made incumbent upon the State Party by Article 17 of the UNCRC. Furthermore, as it currently stands, the draft Guidelines has the potential to impede rather than encourage the development of children as active citizens engaged in the social and political affairs of the country as is envisaged by the UNCRC. This potential is most specifically contained in Article 3 (b) of the Guidelines which prohibits the inclusion of ‘any political content, directly or indirectly’ in programmes aimed at children28. Such a prohibition assumes that children—no matter what age and stage of development they are in—do not have the capacity to constructively and positively engage in the political, social and civil affairs of the country. Such an assumption is contrary to the philosophical underpinnings of the UNCRC, which envisons children as subjects of the rights it provides and encourages children’s participation in public life as active citizens with their own views and opinions. Rather than prohibit political content, the Guidelines should be aimed at including such content aimed at children in accordance with the capabicities and development of children of various age groups. Encouragment of children’s participation in the media is also absent from the only legislative instrument that deals with the print media sector – the Print Media Act (47/78). The legislation was enacted in 1978—thirty years prior to the Maldives’ transition to democracy in 2008, and twelve years before the Maldives signed the UNCRC in 1990. It has not been amended or formally reviewed since. Despite the UNCRC requirement that States Parties shall ‘encourage the production and dissemination of children’s books’ (Article 17(c)), the only reference to children in the Act is the statement that children’s magazines and other such materials published by and circulated within academic circles are exempt from the law29. Recognition of the importance of children’s participation in the media is also absent from mechanisms of self regulation such as the Maldivian Media Code of Ethics recently adopted by the 27 Broadcasting License Agreement, Department of Information, p.103 Accessed at: http://www.maldivesinfo.gov.mv/home/upload/downloads/Broadcast%20agreement.pdf on 3 August 2011 28 Maldives Broadcasting Commission, “Guidelines for the Protection of Children in Broadcasting (First Draft), October 31, 2011, accessed http://www.broadcom.org.mv/dh/images/upload/11.%20Children%20Guideline.pdf on November 22, 2011 29 Print Media Law 47/78 (Male’: Maldives Government, 1978), 1. Accessed online at: http://www.mvlaw.gov.mv/pdf/ganoon/chapterII/47-78.pdf on 30 July 2011 22