BY ELAH GEOFFREY MBONGALE
The Day of the African Child, DAC is commemorated every year on June 16 in memory of the 16th June 1976 student uprising in Soweto, South Africa, during which students who marched in protest against the poor quality of education were massacred by the then apartheid regime in place in South Africa.
This year it will be commemorated on the theme “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development for Children in Africa: Accelerating protection, empowerment and equal opportunity”. The Child friendly version is “Accelerating protection, empowerment and equal opportunities for children in Africa by 2030″.
The SONARA Nursery School in collaboration with some children from two guest schools; Fritz Williams Bilingual Nursery School and Government Nursery School, Francophone Mile one commemorated the Day of African Child last Thursday, May 18 due to the school calendar in Cameroon.
The pre-nursery and nursery kids treated their guests with rhymes and sketches all centered on the rights and needs of a child. Some of the sketches highlighted the problem of malnutrition in some homes and the need for the child to eat a balanced meal every day.
The kids also hammered on the right of every child to have some play time which is not only good for his or her physical but also mental health.
Other messages by the kids include the right to education, and No to child soldiers, No to malnutrition, No to child labour, No to child abuse etc. they also stressed on the importance of every child owning a birth certificate.
The coordinator of the Nursery department of the SONARA School, Mme Florence Bilong told The SUN that SONARA School has decided to be very current “Every year we try to engage in extra-curricular activities. We try to look for event that a celebrated worldwide and celebrate also. Last year we celebrated Mothers Day with some orphans and this year we decided to celebrate The Day of the African Child with some other kids from other schools. Some children suffer a lot because of their parent’s ignorance of the rights of the children that is why we took this opportunity to incorporate a children’s right campaign in this years’ academic calendar while using a day like this to educate parents on their kid’s rights.
The Director of the SONARA School, Mme….also stressed on the need to sensitize parents on the rights of children “The SONARA School decided to commemorate the Day of the African Child just to make the children know that they have rights and responsibilities which must be respected. These kids will probably by the future leaders of Cameroon and it is very important to make them realize from a tender age the stakes and the respect of children’s rights.
Context of the theme for 2017
As aforementioned, the theme selected by the African Committee for the celebration of the DAC in 2017 is “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development for children in Africa: Accelerating protection, empowerment, and equal opportunity”. The child friendly version of the theme is simply “Accelerating protection, empowerment and equal opportunities for children in Africa by 2030”.
According to the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, African countries were active in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that were accompanied by 18 targets, and are measured by indicators using 1990 as a baseline, to be mostly reached by 2015. The MDGs managed to focus the efforts of governments and development partners on pressing issues in human development, most of which were also relevant for children. While Africa as a whole did not achieve all the MDGs, significant progress has been achieved in relation to a number of goals. The year 2015 was a milestone as the MDG era came to an end and the new sustainable development agenda was launched.
Some of the lessons drawn from the MDGs for the purpose of the rights and well being of children include “that initial conditions influence the pace of progress a country can make on global development agendas”. In this regard the importance of laying necessary foundations early on with a view to make concrete progress by 2030 cannot be overemphasized. Furthermore, lessons have also been drawn that unless a human rights based approach informs the implementation of activities to achieve goals, the possibility of promoting some rights at the cost of others is very real. Breaking the silos between those who work in development, human rights, and humanitarian assistance has also been identified as critical. A number of examples were also drawn that demonstrate that the MDGs were able to mobilize efforts and resources for the achievement of children’s rights- especially economic, social and cultural rights.
Currently, there are a number of commonalities between the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and children’s rights. For instance, the guiding principles that inform the SDGs and children’s rights – such as inclusivity, participation, equity, and good governance are critical to both. There are a number of Goals that are directly provided for in children’s rights- such as the one on free and compulsory primary education. The reporting requirements under child rights instruments as well as the SDGs framework are both mainly intended for the purpose of holding governments accountable.
In selecting the theme for the 2017 DAC celebration, the Committee is reconfirming the importance of linking the 2030 Agenda with child rights. It is emphasizing that with a view to increase accountability, strengthen coherence and alignment among various stakeholders, prevent inequitable outcomes, and invest in all children, and to stress that the child rights commitments of States need to be made central to the implementation of SDGs. In addition, the Committee, as a treaty body, is seeking to draw attention to the fact that, the so called “priority SDG targets and indicators for children” should be brought closer to the African Charter reporting cycle.