Greater efforts urged to protect African children's rights: UNICEF

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, November 21, 2003

Greater efforts urged to protect African children's rights: UNICEF

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Greater efforts should be made to protect the children's rights, especially those of African children, an official of the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) said in Abuja Thursday.

Gianni Murzi, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, said that many of the 65 million girls and 56 million boys out of school today were in Africa when addressing a meeting to mark the UN Conventions on the Rights of the Child.

Murzi said the surest way to end poverty and build peace and security in the world was to protect the rights of every child and invest in his or her well-being.

"It is possible to give every child a good start in life," he said, adding that the world can, if it chooses, to ensure that every child grows and develops to his or her full, human potential.

Murzi described children as citizens of the communities and the societies that they lived in, saying that their voices should be heard and their opinions heeded by all.

"This places children at the of any future development strategy," he said.

According to the UNICEF representative, six of the Eight Millennium Development Goals could best be met as the rights of children to health, education protection and equality are protected.

He said UNICEF's vision and belief was that investing in education today would protect the rights of all children to quality education as well as jump-start all other development goals.

"UNICEF's vision and belief is that every child has the right to the best possible start in life," he said. "It is wrong for children to die needlessly; therefore, it is imperative to prevent their unnecessary deaths," he added.

In a bid to ensure full implementation of the UN Conventions on the Rights of the Child, the Nigerian federal government enacted the Child Rights Act in 2003.

Deputy Speaker of Nigerian Children's Parliament Ibarhim Adamu said at the meeting that the rights of a child to participation "is best practiced when children and young people are carried alongin policy-making that affected them."

The meeting was organized by the Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS) in conjunction with the UNICEF.

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