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Every 16 June since 1991, the day of the African Child[1] has been celebrated. This year the Day is dedicated to the right of the African child to participate, particularly to be seen and heard. International law guarantees the respect of the views of the child. According to article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, this includes the right of the child to be heard and have his or her view given due weight in any judicial and administrative proceeding affecting him or her. It is also interesting to notice that, in the framework of the African Charter on the Right and Welfare of the Child, article 4 on the best interests of the child provides for the right of the African child to have his or her view considered in all proceedings affecting him or her. However, despite efforts to enable child participation in the democratisation process of African countries, the full implementation of the child’s right to participate remains largely unachieved for many children. Two categories of children particularly suffer from this violation: child victims of violence and children in conflict with the law. In Africa, numerous children are victims of violence at home, in schools and care institutions, on the streets, in the workplace and in prisons. Despite the seriousness of the situation, much violence is hidden and child victims remain largely invisible in society. This is firstly due to an under-reporting of violence against children. A large proportion of child victims do not report violence essentially because they do not know their rights and the fact that they are entitled to get protection in cases of violation of such rights. In addition, some forms of common and traditional violent treatment might be considered as acceptable and normal punishment even by the children themselves. Access to support limited In the rare instances where children denounce the violence they have suffered, access to effective support remains limited. According to recent information from Defence for Children International (DCI)-Uganda and LIZADEEL, it is not uncommon for child victims of sexual violence such as rape and defilement to be treated without any respect for their dignity and any consideration for their pain. In Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, police investigating procedures are often humiliating for those victims, thus contributing to re-victimisation. For instance, since sexual violence against older children, in particular girls, is less clearly recognised as an abuse, law enforcement officers regularly demonstrate a passive attitude to victims reporting such crimes. In addition, where the police are involved in resolving a dispute in cases where a child has been the victim of violence, the practice is to exclude the child victim from the discussions and therefore fail to take his or her best interests into account. The corruption of police officers and judges also contributes to this problem. The alternative role of the community-level institutions is not able to fill this gap either since such institutions suffer from poor management and training. These attitudes hamper access to the necessary means of physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration of African child victims of violence. In most cases, medical and psychosocial services and counselling for child victims are not provided by State entities but by inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations. However, the overall level of resources remains insufficient to ensure free access to physical and psychological support for victims and many victims receive no help at all. Therefore, in order to make recovery and reintegration effective for African child victims, African States must now start to really consider those children and their needs which includes hearing and seeing them. Fair trial In respect of children accused of or recognised as having infringed the criminal law, the right to be heard is a fundamental element of the guarantees of fair trial. In this regard however, access to justice for many African children remains a serious challenge. In Africa, when a child is accused of having infringed the criminal law, the police may settle the case informally. This in itself violates the right of a child to a fair trial as it excludes all legal safeguards. In particular, accused children can rarely express their views and are denied the right to have legal assistance. Excluding children from the procedures that concern them often lead to inappropriate measures being taken which are contrary to the best interests of the child. In many African countries, the juvenile justice system, when it exists, does not sufficiently consider the child as the protagonist of the procedure. In addition, the right for children in conflict with the law to access justice and therefore to participate into the procedures that concern them also faces logistical constraints. For instance, according to information from DCI-Uganda, there are currently over 168 juveniles at Naguru remand home in Kampala who have not been taken to court because of transport impediments. This situation which adversely affects a lot of African children shows that the promotion and respect of the right to be heard and seen is a necessary step in improving the global protection of all children, particularly the most vulnerable. The adoption of laws on child protection is not sufficient without securing the appropriate finance and ensuring follow-up. In this perspective, OMCT, LIZADEEL and DCI-Uganda urge African governments to take action to fully protect all African children and particularly to: - increase resource allocations to bodies dealing with children at all levels, from social ministries to local communities; - fight against corruption; - train and sensitise national and local personnel working with children; - set up justice systems that are likely to protect children from any violation of their fundamental rights. When actively involved in decision-making, African children are making positive changes in their schools, families, and communities. If services and initiatives designed for children better suit their needs, democracies and economies in Africa are also likely to grow stronger and work more effectively. Despite notable progress, more than half of the African population, comprised of children under 18 years old, remain largely unseen and unheard in both public and private life. According to a recent progress report by the African Union, children’s participation in the world of the adults is “extremely rare”. A 2007 snap survey in Zambia by Media Monitoring Project revealed that children hardly feature in the news and they only account for 4 per cent of news stories. Over 60% of that coverage was on child abuse, crime or disasters, while 65 per cent of people quoted on children’s issues were adults. “We need to be given space to contribute towards national development,” says Jackson Lengwe, Youth Media Editor in Zambia. “Many adults still believe that children are not mature and are unable to have a reasonable opinion or to make a good decision. Others are afraid to lose their power,” stresses Elkane Mooh, one of Save the Children Sweden’s specialists on children’s participation. “On the contrary, if you really want to protect your children, you should consult them. Who can understand children’s problems better than themselves? Who better than them to find adequate solutions?” “Most of the time, adults are the ones making the decisions for us. They often think children must obey the rules. But at the end of the day, when it is not working out, they put the blame on children. Actually, they are the ones to be blamed because they haven’t asked our opinions about the rules,” says Musu Bakoto Sawo, 17 year old girl from The Gambia. Listening to Children helps Develop Society Today’s adults can help by making tomorrow’s adults more comfortable to share their opinions. To commemorate the 2008 Day of the African Child with the theme “Right to Participation: Let Children be Seen and Heard”, Save the Children Sweden is calling on all adults to listen to children and help them to make their ideas become reality. Allowing children to participate makes sense for many reasons: · It is educational: it teaches civil responsibility and democratic principles and allows children to understand their ability to make change within their societies · It is cost-effective: it has been shown that policies and activities for children designed by adults, without taking children’s views into account, frequently fail because they are irrelevant, unattractive or even harmful for children; · It builds children’s confidence and self-esteem: children who are given the chance to speak become more confident and, as a result, are more responsible citizens now and in their future adult lives. · It helps to avoid discrimination: children are often much more aware of those among them who are facing discrimination and often have creative ideas on how to tackle complicated issues; · It is their right: the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child both underline that children’s participation is a key pillar and right for all children; A Councilman in Livingstone, Zambia eloquently described the impact of child participation: “When an adult hears the story of a child from another adult, it does not carry weight. But when children speak out about their problems, I feel, as an adult, humiliated. As a Councilman in the Local City Council, I will carry your message to my fellow Councilmen.” Siga Rose Sène, 15 year old girl from Senegal explained the importance of child participation within the family. “At home, my mother discusses with us before doing anything for us. But I’m sorry to hear some of my friends saying that they are afraid of their parents. Some parents think that children do not know anything. If a child has a problem, saying it will allow the parents to understand and help.” Creative Ways to Speak Out Drama, poetry, dance, music, rallies, painting, sport activities…all over Africa; children have found many creative ways to get their message across on the Day of the African Child. From Pretoria to Banjul to Nairobi, a great number of activities will take place on June 16th with thousands of children mobilised by Save the Children Sweden’s partners, the national NGOs making child participation a reality. For example, in Kenya children will be presenting papers to the current government on post-election violence and how it affected children. In Ethiopia, children will be marching in the streets. In Togo, toy weapons will be symbolically destroyed by children and soldiers to protest against violence. In Côte d’Ivoire, child parliamentarians will submit to adult legislators projects of bills on forced migration and birth certification. In The Gambia, drama on children’s participation will be performed by children before politicians and policy makers. In Senegal, children and local artists will work on mural paintings in urban poor areas to remind adults on the importance to send girls to school. In Zambia, where the day is being commemorated under the theme of child labour, children will march and present papers to the local leadership. Apart from the national event which will be graced by the national leadership, there will be a number of activities in different provinces in South Africa where children will perform drama and recite poems.