Mr. Isaac Robson Klu, Kadjebi District Director, Department of Social Welfare and Community Development, has called on parents to provide their children with their basic needs.
He said children had the right to a good education, adequate feeding, quality medical care, good shelter, clothed well, protected from violence, abuse, cruelty, exploitation, and neglect.
The District Director said they should not be discriminated against based on their race, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, disability, and ethnicity because they are children.
Mr. Klu made these statements at a Children’s Rights engagement at Dzindziso in the Kadjebi District of the Oti Region. He said children’s rights were a special case since many of the rights defined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child must be provided by adults or the state.
He said although children had rights, they also had responsibilities to respect the rights of others and refrain from doing acts detrimental to the welfare of others.
Mr. Klu entreated the participants to closely monitor their children’s internet activities to ensure they were not lured into cybercrime and other immoral acts.
He said digital age had profoundly altered how children exercised and realised their rights, as the digital world influenced children’s life in ways that had an impact on how they could exercise their rights and how those rights might be strengthen or violated.
The District Director added that although children had rights in the digital environment just like they did in the physical world, they must be careful of contents they viewed.
Madam Rose Kliaty, Dzindziso Community Child Protection Committee Chairperson, commended the educative team for the programme.
Madam Kliaty, a Midwife by profession, charged the participants to provide children with nutritious, balanced diet foods as it helped in their physical and mental development.
She said education of the children should be seen as a shared responsibility and not left to the government alone.
