| Hard Talk:Child abuse is one of the worst human rights violations | Send to a friend |
| Saturday, 04 February 2012 20:56 |
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By Evarist Kagaruki In 1990, the Organisation of African Unity (now African Union) adopted the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. Governments were required to evolve policies and strategies that would ensure the existence of a better human rights situation of children in terms of their survival, protection and development, bearing in mind that their well-being can not be divorced from the context of the human rights of the societies to which they belong. The Charter was founded on the Articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was drawn up and adopted by the UN General Assembly way back in 1989. Tanzania is signatory to this landmark document which essentially covers all the fundamental aspects concerning the child’s welfare and focuses on a wide range of basic rights of children – the right to survival and development, food, healthcare, education, spiritual life, as well as family, societal and legal protection. This Convention binds states to respect these rights. The Charter also seeks to protect African children against specific human rights abuses to which they are particularly vulnerable such as chattel slavery, child prostitution (and pornography), sexual assault (rape), child labour and other forms of child abuse. But, promoting the rights and welfare of children requires a solid foundation of legal, judicial, governmental and societal structures that respond to their priorities and afford them an unfettered enjoyment of their rights. In Tanzania, efforts to protect the survival and well-being of children have seen government evolve political and legal frameworks in which the problems facing children could be addressed. For instance, we have a national policy on the Development of the Child (1996) which emphasizes the fact of children being the future nation. There is also in place the Child Act of 2009, which is intended to ensure that children’s rights are firmly protected. So, at least on paper, there has been remarkable progress in terms of compliance with the said Charter and Convention. But, in practice, a lot still needs to be done in that respect. Serious violations of the rights of children continue to be documented. This is evidenced in a recent report on inspection of children in detention facilities, conducted by the Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRGG). The report revealed that about 140 children detained in Tanzanian prisons and other facilities (and were mixed with adult prisoners) often became victims of sexual abuse by fellow children, adult convicts and even law enforcers (The Citizen on Sunday: January 29, 2012). Because of the horrendous conditions they were subjected to, the children, instead of being reformed and rehabilitated into society as good citizens, often turned into notorious or hardcore criminals. This is basically because in prison (where conditions are appalling) the children were mixed with adult inmates who had committed horrible crimes. The report emphasizes that under the present set up and conditions, it was extremely difficult for a child to be rehabilitated. To understand the necessity of separating children from adult prisoners does not require one to be conversant with the law. It is a matter of one having moral sense. Those in government are supposed to know that there must be separate cells for children both in remand cells at police stations and in prisons. Any excuse for not maintaining such an arrangement is untenable. I tend to believe that the practice of mixing children and adult prisoners could only be found in societies where morals have fallen; where there is a serious erosion of family and societal values; where injustice and corruption are entrenched; and where only offending children from destitute (and broken) families saw the gates of “reformatory” centres and prisons. The government has always refuted credible reports that appeared in the press, revealing gross abuse of children in our prisons - one of the worst human rights violations. Now that the scourge has been confirmed by one of the government’s own reputable agencies the (CHRGG) one hopes that the authorities will wake up, see the bitter truth and start addressing the problem seriously. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
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