Most Kenyans Support the Campaign
to Respond to Issues Affecting Children
 
 

By Joseph Sunday
Daily Nation
August 27, 2001

The "Say Yes for Children Campaign" is an initiative of the Global Movement for Children that seeks to promote and protect the rights of children worldwide.

Kenya is a party to the charter that ratified the Convention on the Rights of Children 10 years ago.

The findings, contained in a recent national survey, reveal that  three out of every four Kenyans are ignorant of core issues appertaining to children's welfare like the Children's Bill.

The report says the high cost of education, deficiency in basic  health care, the AIDS scourge and lack of food are some of the issues hampering the campaign for a better world for children.

It notes that 55.4 per cent of those interviewed did not know that  Kenya has over one million Aids orphans.

The poll found that in order for the government to effectively deal with the problems affecting children, key areas to be urgently addressed include commitment to education of every child, fighting HIV/AIDS and care for every child.

Forty-nine per cent of those interviewed agreed that the responsibility to promote and protect the rights of children should be a collective effort of parents, local communities, non-governmental organisations, United Nations, and governments.

The "Say Yes for Children Campaign" in Kenya was launched by Vice-President George Saitoti last month and requires people to agree with 10 underlying principles on improving and protecting the lives of children ranging from education to HIV/AIDS, discrimination to armed conflict.

The campaign has already gathered 3.2 million pledges worldwide since April and will climax with the presentation of the signatures to national leaders at a summit on children scheduled for next month in  New York.

This is the first convention of its kind in 11 years.

source:
Daily Nation
August 27, 2001
Joseph Sunday
Nairobi / KENYA
 
 

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The Journal of History - Fall 2002 Copyright © 2002 by News Source, Inc.