I grew up in a society where I see parents neglect their children in search of means for survival. For many, this is not a choice; it’s usually because they do not have avenues to make a living. Most of them live from hand to mouth and as such, they cannot sit at one place to monitor every step of their children’s lives.
Rights of a child are legal entitlements that every child, irrespective of their race, skin color, opinion, religion and background is entitled to. These include the right to association, identity and nationality, right to be heard and respected as well as the basic needs for physical protection, food, universal state-paid education, healthcare and criminal laws appropriate for the ages and development of the child; they also include equal protection of the child’s civil rights and freedom.
Children face lots of problems ranging from health issues, food insecurity, which includes hunger and malnutrition, inadequate access to proper education and so on. They continue to face these problems because the people entrusted with the responsibility to remedy these problems end up failing themselves and the entire continent.
African governments misuse funds for their selfish political gains, thereby neglecting the interest of their people, especially children. Do you know that up to date, children in some parts of Africa still walk for kilometers to go to school every day? A lot of whom do not have proper learning facilities to enhance their learning processes. Therefore, Africa has and continues to face unending problems with misleading solutions.
However, there is a secret that most African governments are still failing to discover and that is to invest in children. It might sound complicated, but any government that fails to invest in its younger generation, is planning to fail forever.
The younger generation should be well equipped and capacitated for them to continue the smooth running of the affairs of their nations. But what happens when little or no amount is been invested in children? In their education, health care, and nutrition etc.? When children are not educated, the rate of illiteracy increases, and the dependency ratio also increases; when the health care is poor, mortality rate increases; when there is food insecurity, the crime rate also increases, and these have very daunting consequences that can jeopardize the future of every nation.
In conclusion, I know UN agencies, including UNICEF and other international organizations are fighting endlessly to create a better world for every child. However, we need more proactive commitments from governments to complement the efforts of these organizations. Nations should start prioritizing the rights of children, they must ensure that children are nurtured and empowered to realize themselves. They must ensure their protection, their safety, freedom, access to healthcare and right to education.
These are fundamental rights that every child must be entitled to. They cannot be negotiated or treated as favors. Traditional practices that undermine the safety of children must be abolished. Governments should stop their unnecessary travels to hunt for per diems and start investing in children. No child is meant to suffer because of where they come from. Every child matters and investing in children is a fruitful investment with returns and unending impact.
Happy 30th Anniversary of the Convention on the rights of the Child (CRC@30).
For every child, every right!
Written by
Oumie Bojang, 16 years old
Nusrat Senior Secondary School
Catch them Young mentee
