Concord Times (Freetown)
Ibrahim Jaffa Condeh
16 June 2009
Freetown — Country Representative of the child advocacy agency, UNICEF has said that the 'Day of the African Child', celebrated all over Africa today, should be used as a day to advocate for the children of Sierra Leone.
Speaking at a press conference organized by the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children's Affairs ahead of today's commemoration of the African child's day, Geert Cappelaere noted that child survival should be one of the major priorities of all non-governmental organizations operating in the country to help foster the standard of living for all children in Sierra Leone.
He said UNICEF's theme for this year's commemoration is 'child survival' as the organization looks forward to scaling down child and maternal mortality rates in the country.
"Violation of the rights of the girl-child has led to so many teenage pregnancies in Sierra Leone. The ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children's Affairs must help to fight such occurrences," he stated.
Deputy Gender and Children's Affairs minister, Jenneh Kandeh said her ministry was gradually putting in place structures that will help to comprehensively address many of the challenges confronting the country's children.
She disclosed that the ministry will soon adopt a directorate system that will help better service to child survival.
"We have set up a mechanism for monitoring residential care homes, including court placement especially for the vulnerable and excluded children within the framework of the regulatory minimum standard of care as well as for family tracing and reunification," she explained.
A representative of the ministry of Education, Gloria Johnson said every child has a right to go to school, adding that certain actions have been put in place by the ministry to ensure more girl-child enrollment in schools.
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