The chief social development officer at the ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs, Theresa Vamboi, has launched the Child Rights Coalition in Freetown.
During the launching at the Miatta Conference Centre, Ms Vamboi said children needed to be catered for and shown love.
She said it was against that backdrop that Sierra Leone became the seventh country that signed the convention for the protection of the child, stating that despite the meager budget allocated to the ministry they had done a lot technically for the prevention of the child.
Presenting a report on the welfare of the child, Manaf Kemokai highlighted certain issues affecting the child in the areas of child protection, child in conflict, trafficking and lack of basic health facilities.
He mentioned that one area to discourage child trafficking was the monitoring of the porous borders and a comprehensive data on children in conflict with the law.
Giving an overview of the Child Right Coalition, Grace Harman said “the coalition is a combination of both local and international non governmental organizations whose objectives are to advance the cooperation between NGOs working on children’s rights and to monitor and report on the implementation of the UN convention on the Rights of the child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child”.
She explained that their mission would be to endeavour the implementation of child welfare advocacy by monitoring of government actions and networking with relevant agencies.
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