adminTanzikwa Guranungo Correspondent
In celebrating the Day of the African Child this year, we must take into consideration ways of creating and maintaining a world fit for children.
ON June 16, Zimbabwe joins the rest of the African continent in commemorating the Day of the African Child.
The Day of the African Child has been celebrated on June 16 every year since 1991, when it was first initiated by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) now African Union (AU). The day honours those who participated in the Soweto Uprising in South Africa in 1976.
It also raises awareness of the continuing need for improvement of the education provided to African children.
In Soweto, South Africa, on June 16, 1976, about 10 000 black school children marched in a column more than 800m long, protesting the poor quality of their education and demanding their right to be taught in their own language.
More than a hundred people were killed in the protests of the following two weeks, and more than a thousand were injured.
On this day every year, governments, NGOs, international organisations and other stakeholders gather to discuss the challenges and opportunities slowing the full realisation of the rights of children in Africa.
This year the commemorations come at a time when Africa is facing numerous conflicts and crisis affecting the well-being of children across the globe.
This year’s theme: ‘’Conflicts and crises in Africa: Protecting the rights of all children’’ is particularly timely to show the impact of these different crises on children’s lives.
To commemorate this important children’s day, the Zimbabwe Youth Council over the years would convene and officially open the Children’s Parliament of Zimbabwe.
This year, His Excellency President Mugabe is expected to grace the occasion and address the Children’s Parliament.
The Ministry of Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment through the Zimbabwe Youth Council uses this day to convene the Children’s Parliament. The Children’s Parliament will be used as a platform for children and youths to give feedback on their activities and convey their wishes to responsible authorities. It is also an opportunity for children to organise themselves to come up with common goals for their development.
The African continent remains the most conflict-prone region in the world. The main cause of conflicts and crises on the continent is the violation of children’s rights.
The DAC this year, will be celebrated at a time many African countries such as Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Sudan, South Sudan, Libya, Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Northern Cameroon, Burundi, Central African Republic, Burkina Faso are mired in various types of conflict.
Wars and conflicts put children in situations where their rights are violated.
These rights include the right to life, right to live in a family environment, health, education and survival, nutrition, water and development.
Armed groups indoctrinate and manipulate children in order to coerce or force them to participate in hostilities, including acts of extreme violence.
In Zimbabwe, child marriages has been a major cause of concern as statistics show that in every three girls, one is married off before they celebrate their 18th birthday. The Zimbabwe Multiple Indicator Monitoring Survey indicates that 21 percent of children, mostly girls, are married before the age of 18.
The survey further explains that these marriages are not taking place in a vacuum — poverty, cultural and religious practices are the key drivers of child marriages.
Child marriages predominantly affects girls who live in poverty and in rural areas.
Girls from the poorest 20 percent of the households were more than four times as likely to be married/in union before age 18 as girls from the richest 20 percent of the households. The less education a girl has, the more she is likely to marry during her childhood.
Religion is also a driver of child marriage in Zimbabwe. For example, in some sections of the apostolic faith, girls are often encouraged to marry much older men at a very young age.
In January 2016, the Constitutional Court ruled that the Marriage Act, which allowed girls as young as 16 to be married with their parents’ consent, was unconstitutional and recognised 18 years as the legal minimum age of marriage.
However, a recent report by the Zimbabwe Youth Council in partnership with the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) revealed that girls as young as 12 were being forced into prostitution by “cartels” that were making them charge as little as $1 per “client”
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), child prostitution is the worst form of child labour. Out of desperation, the young sex workers risk and endure the constant harassments from their clients in their plight to put a dollar in their purses.
In Somalia, Somali women and children have been living in the harshest of conditions for over two decades.
While in 2012, Somalia saw positive movement in terms of politics, humanitarian access and food security, the majority of children continue to suffer some of the most severe vulnerabilities and deprivations in the world.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has a long history of conflict, but its recent crises can be traced to the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Reports from the Central African country by the 2008 Global Report, the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers estimates that 7 000 child soldiers remained in government forces and armed groups.
Children have often been recruited from refugee camps and used as combatants, sex slaves, guards, and porters.
Sexual violence on both female and male children, which includes rape and other forms has been listed as a grave violation of children during armed conflict.
The abduction of children during armed conflict is rampant.
In Africa, millions of children are deprived of their right to life and are victims of all kinds of violence that include sexual abuse, physical abuse, forced recruitment into armed groups, suicide bombers.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) states that children have the right to protection from harm. Although the UNCRC is the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history, the basic rights of children throughout the world are still being ignored.
UNICEF estimates that 300 million children worldwide are subjected to violence, abuse, and exploitation on a daily basis. Millions more children remain at risk due to inadequate protection.
In 2015, the ACERWC commissioned a continental study on the impact of armed conflict on children in Africa as part of its efforts to elevate child protection agenda in conflict situation in Africa as well as a guarantee of the protection and preservation of life and well-being of the African children.
The celebration of the DAC 2016 focusing on Conflict and Crisis in Africa: Protecting all children‘s rights, therefore will come at an opportune time in the sense that the continental study on the impact of armed conflict on children in Africa would have been completed.
As member states celebrate the DAC 2016, they will have a deeper understanding of the impact of armed conflict on children on the continent.
In the celebration of the DAC 2016, it must be understood that in the devastation that accompanies conflicts and crisis, children, being one of the most vulnerable segments of the civilian population, are negatively affected in various ways. The protection of all children‘s rights must be prioritised.
It is justifiable that the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of Children (ACERWC) placed the celebration of the DAC 2016 under the banner of the protection of children in conflict.
In celebrating the Day of the African Child this year, we must take into consideration ways of creating and maintaining a world fit for children.
The writer is Public Relations Manager for Zimbabwe Youth Council.
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