Uganda launches child rights manuals to mark Day of African Child

As Uganda marked the Day of the African Child on Thursday, it launched manuals aimed at helping children protect themselves from violence and conflict.

The child-friendly learners' booklets provide children with information, knowledge and skills in preventing conflict, violence and disasters in their schools and communities.

"These booklets are a great resource for children to learn about their rights and, importantly, the actions they can take to protect their rights," said Aida Girma, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Representative in Uganda.

She said all children should be encouraged to study the booklets so they can gain key knowledge that will help them better protect and secure a better future for themselves.

With the theme of "Protecting children's rights: A call to action", this year's Day of the African Child is highlighting the damage that violence, conflict and disasters inflict on children.

The booklets equip children with tips to identify acts of violence, report the acts to authorities and help put an end to the violence they experience.

The booklets also equip children with information, knowledge and skills to prevent conflict, violence and disasters like floods, fire, strong winds, lightening, earthquakes, landslides and droughts.

UNICEF figures show that 40 percent of children in Uganda suffer from physical violence; 2.4 million children are engaged in exploitative child labor; more than half of 15-19 year old adolescent girls have experienced physical or sexual violence, and corporal punishment remains rampant in schools.

The ministry of gender, labor and social development in a statement to mark the day said although government has put in place legal frameworks to uplift the status of children, their situation still requires more to be done.

The ministry said there is need to raise awareness of the existing legal and policy framework to promote and secure child rights.

It added that cultural norms that promote child rights violations like child marriages, female genital mutilation and child sacrifice need to be abolished.

The Day of the African Child is in commemoration of the children who were killed in South Africa in 1976 over their protest against apartheid inspired education.

It is marked annually by African Union member states on June 16, with the aim of taking stock of efforts committed to the rights of children on the continent. Endit