Today, 16th June 2016, marks the Day of the African Child, this year marked under the theme of ‘Conflict in Crisis in Africa: Protecting all Children’s Rights’. African Child Day honours those who participated in the 1976 uprising in Soweto and recognises the need for continued focus on providing child friendly, quality, free and compulsory education for all children in Africa.
Through Childreach Tanzania’s My School My Voice Programme, children lead research with their peers to explore the biggest rights violations children are facing at home, in school and in their communities. This research informed an event at Ghona Secondary School to mark African Child Day, which provided children themselves with a platform to voice the biggest rights violations they are facing and to present solutions to decision makers in their community. Each District in Kilimanjaro had its own theme, with Moshi District’s being the eradication of rape and sexual abuse of children.Children from 11 primary schools raised awareness for issues affecting them through songs, poems and role plays and implored decision makers to take action to fulfil their responsibilities to children and protect them from these abuses. There were over 500 people that participated in the event, including parents, community leaders, teachers NGOs working in the area, village, ward, district and regional officials and children themselves. The Guest of Honour was the Kilimanjaro Regional Commissioner, who spoke of the importance of protecting children and the need for strong policy and enforcement in the courts to handle child abuse cases appropriately and to help put an end to children’s suffering. He commented on the excellent work being done by NGOs to protect children’s rights in Kilimanjaro but emphasised that there is still more work to do to keep all children safe.
While significant steps have been taken to improve legislation on the protection of the rights of children in Tanzania, multiple laws and frameworks have not been put into effect leaving children vulnerable to violence, exploitation and abuse.
The 2011 Tanzanian Violence against Children Study (VACS) revealed that nearly 3 in 10 girls, and approximately 1 in 7 boys, surveyed experienced sexual violence before turning 18. Nearly 6% reported being raped. The survey found that 15.1% of incidences of sexual violence took place at school, with 23% taken place on the way to or from school. Of those who experienced sexual violence, almost half of girls and two-thirds of boys did not report their abuse. Of those who reported experiencing sexual abuse, fewer than 20% sought help from government services. Approximately 1 in 6 children who experienced sexual violence felt that the help they were offered was insufficient or substandard, and stated they would have liked additional help to be available, such as counselling and support from police or Social Welfare Officers. Due to society’s ‘normalisation’ of violence, many of the children surveyed failed to realise that the treatment they were receiving was abuse.
Evidently, in Tanzania, incidences of violence against children are high, reporting of violence is low, and the provision of services is poor. There is far more to be done in Tanzania to challenge social norms which perpetuate violence against children.
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