been greatly increased in Sub-Saharan Africa. Also, it is encouraging to note from the same report that “more than 1.6 billion people have gained access to improved drinking water sources between 1990 and 2006”. The Convention has actually helped many individuals, families and groups to better understand that the childhood period is one which requires care, protection and assistance to enable children to grow and develop their physical and mental faculties to the fullest possible levels. Therefore, the
the same without children, in the house, school or street. Local and international media always discourage me when they focus on children’s poverty and misery in countries where educational strides have been, and continue to be, made. If the children had an opportunity to air their views, they probably would say: “Why choose us for such negative messages and images.” In spite of the stark negative images, children in many countries continue to benefit from good parental care, teacher guidance and
VIEW FROM THE
Schoolboys in Swaziland: at least five per cent of Swaziland’s population are children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.
challenges cited in the report require further attention and action by policy- makers and legislators. The challenges cited in the anniversary report include: 2.5 billion people
lack sanitation; 1 billion children lack survival services (health, sanitation, immunization and protection from violence); 148 million children are born underweight, and 101 million children (particularly girls) are missing primary school education. There are other related factors that affect a child’s development, particularly where there are no support mechanisms based on literacy. These are: poor youth educational achievement, child marriage, lack of birth registration, lack of parental care, use of drugs, child abduction and trafficking et cetera. The recent story of the “traveller” family who kept hundreds of slaves will have been very horrifying to both adults and children in contemporary times. In general terms, it is discouraging to note that, during the period under review, nearly 2 billion children were affected by violence and child labour alone. In general, the report presents more information and statistics to show that the world of children is a very sad one indeed. Children are the wonderful flowers of humanity. Their presence and activities touch every aspect of everyday life. The life of adults would not be
community love. In countries where society is still open (mostly Africa, Asia and even Latin America), children are often cared for by almost the entire community in which they live. Where religion is established, church and other religious leaders further complement the nurturing of children as they learn to grow up as responsible and productive adults. Also, culturally, the extended family helps to maintain the bond between the old and the young; hence children are protected at all times by close and distant relatives. This is not to suggest that in these societies adults have been kind and caring to children at all times. In fact, surprises continue to emerge all over the world where children have been seriously mistreated by their own parents or close relatives. In addition to the traditional childcare challenges, the 21st century
communications revolution has ushered in several more challenges for adults and children than before. In recent years, political scientists and communication specialists have witnessed heavy exchanges of messages and data by means of the internet, particularly the social media. In the process, individuals of varied age groups have been affected, positively and negatively. The group that I find to have been negatively affected is that of children. They have the capacity to receive, process and disseminate