Skip to main content

Children’s Day: UNICEF tasks stakeholders on violence against children

unicefUNICEF on Friday called on stakeholders to sustain commitments made to end Violence Against Children (VAC) in the country.

This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja by the Media and External Relations Officer, Mr Geoffery Njoku.

The statement was in commemoration of Children’s Day with the theme: “Protect the rights of the Child in the Face of Violence and Insecurity: End Child Marriage”.

Quoting UNICEF Nigeria Representative, Ms Jean Gough, it said the theme of this year’s celebration will shed more light on the unprecedented levels of VAC in the country in recent times.

President Muhammadu Buhari in conjunction with National Priority Actions launched the Year of Action to end VAC in Sept. 2015, and urged state governments to do same.

“In the North East, we have witnessed, and continue to witness grave violations of children’s rights; killings, abductions, sexual violence and use in suicide bombings by Boko Haram.

“More than 1.2 million children have been displaced and more than half of them are below the age of five.

“However, children living away from the crisis in the northeast are also at risk of violence.

“The Children’s Day offers the opportunity to highlight the significant pledges made by the Federal Government, NGOs, religious groups and the media last September to join hands to end violence against children.

“It calls for renewed efforts by all stakeholders to turn the commitments they made into action for children,” it said.

Gough repeated that part of the commitments made was key actions by ministries, agencies, NGOs, religious groups and the media to end VAC.

However, the statement noted that state governments were responding to the call to launch campaign to end VAC.

“Lagos was the first state to heed the President’s call by launching its own campaign and priority actions in February 2016.

“Cross River will be the second in June 2016, while Bayelsa State domesticated the Child Rights Act.

“Nine States, with funding from USAID and the European Union, have joined together to develop a model child protection system in order to translate this essential Act into reality,” it said.

A National Violence against Children Survey conducted in 2014 revealed that there was prevalence of sexual, physical and emotional violence suffered by children in the country.

The survey also estimated that half of all children in the country experienced physical violence, adding that one in four girls and one in 10 boys experienced sexual violence.

It also highlighted that one in six girls and one in five boys experienced emotional violence before they attained the age of 18 years whereas less than four percent got the help they need to recover.

The statement, however, said “there is no better time than today to take action; together, let’s end violence against children”.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Court grants Fani-Kayode N50m bail

Fani-kayode sandwiched by EFCC officials Justice James Tsoho of the Federal High Court Abuja on Thursday granted a N50m bail to former spokesman of the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode. Fani-Kayode was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a five-count charge of money laundering to the tune of N26m. Fani-Kayode is the sole defendant in the fresh charges numbered, FHC/ABJ/CR/140/2016. The EFCC accused the defendant of diverting 26 million Naira allegedly received from the ONSA while Sambo Dasuki was in office. The anti-graft agency also accused him of handling the said N26 million without going through financial institution as required under the Money Laundering Act. The embattled former minister is already facing 17-count charge of money laundering before the Lagos Division of the court, along with a former Finance Minister; Nenadi Usman, Danjuma Yusuf and a firm; Joint Trust Dimension Nigeria Limited. They were charg...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pope not involved in Colombian peace deal- Vatican

Pope Francis Pope Francis has turned down a request to play a role in the peace deal between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group. The Vatican in a statement issued on Wednesday in in Vatican City said that an invitation was sent to his Holiness in early August to appoint a representative to participate in the committee that selected the judges for the talks. The statement said that though Pope Francis supported the peace process, he, however, reiterated that he would not get involved in Colombian peace deal. It said that Pope was praying for the enlightenment of the hearts and minds of those who were called to promote the common good of the Colombian nation. A deal was announced last week, putting an end to five decades of internal conflict between government forces and the FARC rebels. The agreement, which needed to be ratified through a referendum in Oct. 2, would entail setting up a special court to grant amnesties or pu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Man docked for defiling 9-year-old girl

magistrate-court A 33-year-old man, Godwin Otobo, was on Monday docked at a Surulere Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos.For allegedly defiling a nine-year-old girl, ‎Otobo, who lives at No. 10, Borrow Pit St., Sangotedo-Ajah area of Lagos, was said to have defiled the underage girl whose parents also reside in the same compound. The Prosecutor, Sgt. Anthonia Osayande, told the court that the accused committed the offence at about 9.00 p.m. sometimes in September. “The accused defiled the girl in the night when she was fetching water.‎ “The offence contravened Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011,’’ Osayande told the court. The accused pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge of defilement. Ruling on a bail application filed by the accused, Chief Magistrate Ipaye Nwachukwu, granted him bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties in like sum. She said one of the sureties must be a property owner in Lagos State, while the other must be a civil servant on grade...
Post a Comment
Read more