DAY of Afican Child 2022:launching
The official ceremony of the 2nd edition of Cameroon children’s month, the 32nd edition of
the Day of the African Child and the opening of the 1st session of the National Commission for the Protection of Children in Moral Danger, Delinquent or Abandoned for the year 2022 took place on Wednesday June 1, 2022 at the Yaounde Town Hall.
The Theme for the 32nd edition of the Day of the African is “Elimination of harmful practices affecting children: Progress on policies and practices since 2013”. The objective is to draw attention on harmful social and cultural practices against children and to highlight the roles and responsibility of various stakeholders in Cameroon.
Under the chairmanship of the Minister of Social Affairs Mrs. Pauline Irene Nguene, and in the presence of the Ministers of Women Empowerment and the Family, Marie Therese Abena Ondoua as well as that of Youth and Civic Education, Mounouna Fotso the official launching ceremony started with a welcome address from the representative of the Mayor of the Yaounde City Council, who welcomed the participants and reiterated the commitment of decentralized collectivities in the protection of the rights of the child.
This was followed by a presentation on the causes and consequences of harmful socio-cultural practices on Children by Mrs. Minlend, the Sub Director for the Social Readaptation of the Child in the Ministry of Social Affairs. She highlighted some forms of violence on children like early and forced marriages, Female Genital Mutilation, rape, negligence, and human trafficking among others. She talked of the consequences which range from physical to psychological trauma, school dropout, alcoholism and drug consumption, depression, prostitution and Gender Based Violence in Future.
The next presentation was on the phenomenon of child abandonment in Cameroon: between silence, indifference and tacit acceptance, we are all guilty, by Mrs. Nwana Caroline Dinga, Sub Director for the Social Protection of the Child, who dwelt on the phenomenon of child abandonment. She talked of the causes of child abandonment such as financial difficulties, psychological and social reasons, pregnancy out of rape, discovery of disability, rejection, mental disorders etc. she highlighted the consequences of child abandonment which leads to death, sickness and diseases, development disorders, emotional dependence and other behavioural problems. She concluded her presentation by saying that we all need to stand against this malpractice in the community by denouncing cases in order to rescue children. She equally called on every actor to take his/her role and responsibility seriously so as to combat this phenomenon for a better society for children.
The Minister of Social Affairs in her launching speech started by highlighting the importance of the child in our society reason why the child is at the center of the social policy of the President of the Republic His Excellency Paul Biya and emphasized on the fact that Cameroon has ratified all most all international legal instruments on the protection and promotion of the rights of the child. She highlighted some of the harmful socio-cultural practices perpetrated on children and actions carried out by the government of Cameroon in order to eliminate these practices. She concluded her speech by reiterating governments commitment to protect and promote the rights of children who are the future of our country in particular and the world at large.
The ceremony was graced by songs from the “Echo Social” Choir of the Ministry of Social Affairs and children from the Caleb Nursery and Primary School Nkolbission, where they were all saying no to harmful socio-cultural practices affecting children.