By Hajaratu Kalokoh
Children from across the country on Tuesday exhibited paintings at the Cotton Tree, as part of commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
The drawings depicted the daily issues children face in the country.
The CRC is an international treaty which was signed on 20th November 1989. It was adopted by the United Nations to institute global standards to ensure the protection, survival and development of all children in the world without discrimination.
Sierra Leone signed the convention in 1991. It was then localized through the National Child Rights Acts in 2007.
The paintings depicted issues like child labor, teenage pregnancy, access to free quality education and early marriage. It’s part of a project facilitated by the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) in partnership with the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs, and the National Council for Civic Education and Development (NaCCED).
A total of 250 children, who participated in the panting, came from Bombali, Kenema, Bo, Western Area Rural and Western Area Urban. Organizers said the process of developing their skills to tell their stories in painting took three months.
“We used the commemoration of the 30th anniversary to hear from the children themselves in terms of what is it that they see and some of the progress for their rights and also to understand some of the gap areas so that going forward we can continue to work with government, civil society partners, parents and the children themselves to ensure that these gap areas are addressed,” Communication Specialist at UNICEF, Tapuwa Mutseyekwa, told Politico.
She said the plan is to have the exhibition as a regular feature, and that it would be used to support the development of children in health, education and child protection.
“We [will] reach out to them (children) so that they influence the way we do work,” she said.
An official programme commemorating the CRC@30 anniversary was held at the Bintumani Conference Center on Wednesday and President Julius Maada Bio used the occasion to advise children to focus on their education, emphasizing on the need for his government’s flagship Free Quality Education programme.
“I chose Free Quality Education so that we can empower the children of this country to be useful to their communities, societies, and the world at large. We are investing in our children because we want to give you the required skills to be competitive,” he said to a packed conference hall.
Chairman of NaCCED, Kalilu Ibrahim Tontangi explained on Tuesday that the art exhibition is one of the elements to trigger response from government and partners to address issues affecting children.
“We believe that anyone who is in position of trust, who is a duty bearer, will see how these children have expressed their situation and what they aspire to be in the future. We think it will motivate authorities to take action to improve the lives of children in this country,” Totangi said.
Isha Wusha Conteh, an SSS 3 pupil from Methodist Girls High School told Politico her picture is centered on early marriage and poverty within the country.
“I drew a picture about girl child marriage and poverty in our country because in Sierra Leone it very hard to groom a child because the country is involved in corruption, marginalization and injustice. So with the help from UNICEF, this has been a trying step that will help us children express ourselves,” she said
Abdulai Barrie, another pupil from Prince of Wales School, said the project had helped him discover his creative side. But he said he wanted government to add child rights education in the school curriculum.
“If there is a special subject about that (child rights), I study it, I am taught about it and I take exams on it, there will be no need for me to go beyond my limitations. There will be no need for me to flout the rules; the rules that I am supposed to go by,” Barrie said.
“I will know my rights,” he added.
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