BUJUMBURA November 21st (ABP) – Burundi second Deputy President Joseph Butore enhanced with his presence on Wednesday, the ceremonies marking the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Children’s Rights held in Bujumbura under the theme “for every child, all his/her rights; let’s immediately deploy our efforts to achieve this goal.”
On that occasion, Mr. Butore called on everyone to avoid any behavior aimed at the violation of the children’s rights. By all, everywhere and forever, the rights of the child must be protected for a better future of the country, he said. He also stressed that the protection of the children’s rights is a major concern throughout the world, especially since the Convention relating to it has been ratified more rapidly than the other Conventions. 193 out of 195 countries have already ratified it.
Speaking of the government’s priority programs for the protection of the rights of the child, the Second Deputy President took the opportunity to thank UNICEF for its contribution.
Those ceremonies were an opportunity to sensitize the community so that street children and beggars could be reintegrated into families. Indeed, according to the Minister of Human Rights, Social Affairs and Gender, Mr. Martin Nivyabandi, more than 3,600 children in street situations and more than 1400 beggars have already been reintegrated into the community. He said more than 300 ex-beggars obtained small self-development loans.
All the speakers of the day said that the street does not educate, reason why they appealed to educators and parents to fight for the well-being of the child first and foremost so that the child would not take the way to the street and especially to avoid traumatizing children in one way or another.
The representative of UNICEF in Burundi, Mr. Jeremy Hopkins said on the same occasion that this UN organization will remain on the side of Burundi in the implementation of programs to protect the rights of the child. For him, children are more fragile and more vulnerable while they are the future of the country. So, in order not to jeopardize the future of the country, everyone has the duty to protect their children.
This 30th anniversary, he said, should be an important year to measure the path already taken and to reflect on what remains to be done to maximize the protection of the rights of the child.
Note that prizes were awarded to children who were able to correctly answer questions related to the preliminary concepts of that convention. The first two children received an envelope of 10,000 BIF, in addition to notebooks and pens given to others.
