Commemoration of the African Child Day – June 16

On June 16th every year, Africans commemorate the African Child Day. The day aims at raising awareness on the situation of children in Africa and the rights of African children as stipulated underarticle II to XXII of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.

Childhood experiences are crucial to the adults we become. If we do not enhance the position of children in our society today in the areas of education, health, nutrition and child protection, we will not be able to develop our economies and our societies effectively. Investing in children is not only the right thing to do for their survival and quality of life, but it is also vital for creating and sustaining broad-based economic growth which is key to nation-building.

This year children rights have been on the edge due to outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic which has thrown children to many issues leading to the violation of their rights including but not limited to freedom from violence, the right to education and the right to health.

Tanzania Human Rights report 2019 shows that children are still unsafe in Tanzania and thus there is a need to ensure that they are protected in all lines of their lives.

This year’s IWD theme is “access to child-friendly justice system in Africa” which is a call to ensure that children in conflict with the law access friendly services when exposed to the Justice systems. InTanzania, as in many other countries, justice systems are made up of the police, courts of law and prisons.

Due to coronavirus pandemic, LHRC will conduct a virtual event where justice administrators and CSOs actors will discuss the effectiveness of the juvenile justice system in Tanzania. The webinar is expected to take place on Tuesday, June, 16th, 2020 at 1400hrs (EAT). Join the conversation, register for the webinar here https://bit.ly/2UFsxOH.