Stakeholders launch campaign to end child abuse

Human rights defenders have launched a campaign to increase awareness and address abuse on children.

The Tuajibike campaign seeks to create key messages to bring about behaviour change in children's welfare.

Some of the abuses the campaign seeks to end include, sexual, physical and verbal abuse, child marriage, FGM and denial of right to education.

It will be spearheaded by Centre for Behavior Change and Communication in partnership with Unicef.

The curated messages will include child protection messages and in emergency centre numbers.

Philip Kinyota of CBCC said all stakeholders are expected to ensure that the rights of children are protected.

He said the messages, developed in partnership with communities,will touch on mental health, psychosocial support, gender based violence and prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse.

“Our meeting has state and non state actors, who are willing to ensure that we put in place strategies that give priority to children,” Kinyota said.

 He said even though children in the region and are faced with a myriad of challenges, majority now know their rights.

“We must admit that there is still work to be done. We still have a long way to go. I want to urge parents, guardians and all stakeholders to not give up because we must all work work hard to achieve this goal,” Kinyota said.

County children services coordinator Benjamin Kinyua said the biggest weak link towards child protection is the parents.

“What happens is that the children are growing without being attended to by the parents. Some parents are absentee parents and cannot even be traced,” he said.

Kinyua said some parents abuse drugs right in front of their children.

National Council for Persons with Disability county coordinator Godana Boru called for inclusion of children with disability.

“When we talk about emergency issues, women and elderly issues come out clearly but unfortunately issues of children might not be mentioned adequately. Issues to do with children with disability even becomes a by the way agenda,” he said.

Garissa county county Reproductive Health and Gender Based Violence coordinator Fatuma Ibrahim said women, children and persons living with disability are the most affected during emergencies.

"During these emergencies, there is severe disruption of health services due to lack of access," she said.

"Roads are either damaged or flooded and during drought, women are left behind to take care of the children."