Battle to enforce children�s rights continues
Baboki Kayawe | Friday June 17, 2016 14:36
Thousands of high school children were against a decree, which forced all black schools to use Afrikaans and English in a proportional mix as languages of instruction.
Years later the battle continues from living through the barrel of a gun, to no access to proper nutrition and as well as denial of a host of basic rights. The continent marks the Day of the African child at a time when Botswana has ‘woken up to’ issues of child protection than ever.
Eighteen-year-old Berman Berman says though the essence of the day is the right to education, its relevance today has to do with the best interest of the child. Most critically, he says, the voice of the child has to be respected in all matters relating to children’s welfare.
The youngster warned against cultural suppression of the voice of the child at the expense of dominance of beliefs and practices that put children’s lives and futures on the line. Berman was addressing young people at the Botswana National Youth Council (BNYC) commemorations held at their premises in the capital. The council is mandated with facilitation and coordination of youth-focused initiatives.
“Such practices as child marriages must stop because the right to education and protection supercedes culture or any traditional belief,” he said in an interview on the sidelines of the event.
Tshepo Mosweu, a lawyer by profession also buttressed the constitutional rights bestowed upon children. She too was speaking to young people at the BNYC event whose main focus was educating stakeholders on the significance of the Children’s Act.
“Every child has a constitutional right to life, a right to protection, a right to privacy, and a lot more,” she said.
“I think it is something that you need to know as children.”
Moreover, the Children’s Act is the most supreme legislature when it comes to dealing with children’s rights, Mosweu emphasised.
It also overarched the right to education, life, to a name and the right to know one’s parents.
“Anyone, be it a parent or guardian or just anyone who contravenes this law is faces a fine,” Mosweu said. The act defines a child as any person below the age of 18. It condemns any form of abuse be it physical or sexual and protects children against exploitation, she added.
The Affiliations and Proceedings Act is yet another law Mosweu asked children to be familiar with so as to safeguard against contraventions of their rights. This law provides for the care, maintenance and custody of children born out of wedlock otherwise commonly known as illegitimate children.
“These are the two most important pieces of legislature that you as children have to be familiar with. The law says we know you are children, and we regard you,” she said.
The day is commemorated at a time when issues of child sexual exploitation and abuse are topical. Social movements have since sprung to condemn such acts. The Ministry of Education and Skills Development has since reported that a total of 407 girls dropped out of school due to pregnancy, in the past 12 months.
At the height of the revolution against child sexual exploitation, the United Nations Children Fund condemned in the strongest possible terms, any form of violence against children.
“As an organisation committed to the protection of children worldwide, UNICEF takes all reports of sexual abuse against children very seriously, regardless of the perpetrator, and consistently calls for transparent investigations of allegations.
We believe that violence against children is preventable and this is the priority,” communications specialists, Tuduetse Kelapile said. There has been a raging debate on the age of consent or legal age and who really a child is? And as Botswana commemorated the Day of the African Child, all stakeholders noted the supremacy of the Children’s Act and that a child is any person below age of 18.
“Article 1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child provides that ‘for the purposes of the present Convention, a child means every human being below the age of 18 years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.’ UNICEF is of the view that all laws pertaining to children need to be harmonised with the Children’s Act.”