GOVERNMENT COMMITTED TO PROTECTING CHILDRENS RIGHTS
The minister of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare, Patricia Kaliati, has said government is committed to uphold and protect the rights of children in the country.
Speaking during the 2015 commemoration of the Day of the African Child which took place at Ngabu Community Centre Ground in Chikwawa, Kaliati urged communities to take stock of progress made on improving the welfare of children and come up with strategies on the way forward. She further asked duty bearers to accelerate and direct their collective efforts to child protection, especially for the girl child.
“To improve child welfare, the government has put in place mechanisms such as a Child help line, campaign against child abuse and eradication of harmful practices, recruitment of 300 child protection workers on government payroll, training of Police Officers in child protection.
Government has also established Victim Support Units, four safe havens for victimized children and women, and 300 Child Protection Committees at District and Community levels,” she said.
Paramount Chief Lundu who also graced the occasion encouraged young girls to complete their education instead of rushing into marriage whilst requesting communities to end harmful practices.
Said he, “I would like to encourage our young girls to work hard in school so that you can be independent. Do not get married before the age of 18. As a matter of fact, 18 is just the minimum age. It is not a must that you must marry at that age. You can go beyond that before entering into marriage.”
Representing her fellow children during the commemoration, Charity Mvula said children in the country face numerous challenges and therefore called upon the government and different stakeholders to ensure they are protected.
“We face a lot of challenges such as rape, household chores beyond our age, forced marriage, harmful cultural practices, discrimination, and shortage of learning material among others. We would therefore like to request government to enforce laws such as the Marriage Act, NGO’s to support activities that discourage child marriages and community leaders to formulate by laws ending child marriage and also to enforce them,” she said.
Mvula also urged her fellow children to report to reliable authorities all forms of abuse they face. She encouraged the children to go to mother groups, community leaders, teachers, the police as well as their parents if they are abused.
The National Plan of Action for Vulnerable Children (2015-2019) was also launched during the commemoration. Malawi has over 1.8 million vulnerable children who are subject to various forms of abuse and lack access to basic needs. The Plan of Action will therefore ensure their plight is taken into consideration and their protection.
The Day of the African Child is commemorated annually on 16th June and was designated by the African Union to commemorate the massacre of children in Soweto, South Africa who were demanding their right to education.