LAST month, African countries celebrated the
Day of African Child (DAC). The occasion is commemorated annually as a
remembrance of the importance of children as they are future builders of the
African society and the world at large. The DAC is commemorated every year on
16 June by Member States of the African Union (AU), and its Partners. This
occasion is firstly a commemoration to recall the 1976 uprisings which took
place in Soweto, South Africa. The DAC reminds African nations who felt pity
when police officials of the minority regime of the Apartheid South African
government killed unarmed young African children who were demonstrating on the
streets. The children were protesting against apartheid –inspired educational
curriculum which had elements of discriminations among schools in South Africa
by then. Since 1991, the OAU and its successor, the AU, have since used the DAC
to celebrate children in Africa as well as to inspire sober reflection and
action towards addressing the plethora of challenges that African children face
on a daily basis. The Concept Note for this year edition sets out the
situational context of conflict and crisis in Africa and the impact on
children. It further highlights the challenges hindering the elimination of
conflicts and crises in Africa, to finally recommend examples of best practice
in the elimination of conflicts. In addition to that, the DAC has a great
significance in African societies being an icon that demonstrate peace among
children in African continent bearing the fact that, children are taken as
future leaders of the continent. The occasion also has some significance in it
as it reminds stakeholders from public and civil societies and administrators
as well, to think about the basic necessities of children so as to make them grow
in a society from their childhood to adulthood. Childhood is an early stage of
growth for a normal human being who by nature after having been born needs
parental care so as to reach the maturity stage and become aware of the global
activities and most importantly is able to participate in various economic
developments for the society. Medical doctors and psychologists suggests that,
child care is of the most paramount importance because it is the early stage of
human development which if strictly followed makes children to grow mentally
and physically for the wellbeing of the future generation. “Imagine a world in
which children are free from poverty, live in happiness and have open access to
social basic needs like adequate free education, free medical care, and many
others”, these are the components that makes a society to be free, says a
psychologist. Rebecca Samson a psychologist on child behaviours working at a UN
organized refugee camp in Kasulu is of the view of the fact that, “in a world
where children, even those born in a disadvantaged part of the world, can be
physically, mentally and emotionally healthy for the development of a nation if
all the basic necessities for their lives are provided freely.
Children at work in a construction site
She further stated that, in order to tackle
children behaviours into morality, the basic necessities for them should be
provided in order to make them grow mentally and psychologically. In view of
all these factors, it is therefore imperative for African countries to stand
firm to protect the conventions of the United Nations International Labour
Organisation (ILO) which have been ratified in national laws to protect the
wellbeing of children in Africa, says Andrew Thomas a human right activist According
to him, Africa needs to prepare its own leaders who in future would stand to
defend African culture and stand to represent the continent into the
international outlook. In order to achieve the goals, African governments must
show commitments by laying a strong foundation for children by looking at the
basic necessities required by then in the society. But it has come to the
general understanding that, the basic rights of children are still abused in
most societies despite of the United Nations conventions which almost every
country in the world has adopted as part of children protection agenda. There
are various forms of child abuse which most nations have violated and the most
notorious one is child labour. This kind of violence against children has a
profound impact on emotional, behavioural and physical health and social
development throughout their lifetime. Tanzania ratified the UN-ILO’s
conventions No. 182 and 138 respectively for the elimination of the worst forms
of child labour as well as the minimum age of employment required. A report of
progress of this by the ILO at the global level shows a significant progress is
being made. In the period between 2000 and 2012, there had been a decline of
over 340 percent in the number of children trapped in child labour from 246
million to 168 million. Over ten years between 2004 and 2014, the ILO’s Child
labour program has been active in over 1207 countries with 42 in Africa, 25 in
America, 17 in Asia and the Pacific, 16 in Europe and central Asia and 7 from
Arab States. Another form of violence against children is sexual harassments
which of late has become a common practice in Tanzania. Latest results of a national survey on
violence against children in Tanzania reveals that, almost a third of females
aged 13 to 24 experience at least one incident of sexual violence before the
age of 18. The most common form of sexual violence experienced was unwanted
sexual touching followed by attempted unwanted sexual intercourse. Among males
in the same age group, more than 13 percent stated that they had experienced at
least one incident of sexual abuse prior to the age of 18. Victims of sexual
violence are often reluctant to let others know about their experiences due to
confusion, feelings of guilt, shame, fear of not being believed, or even being
reprimanded for what shall have occurred.
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