FOR the much-desired dream of eliminating harmful socio-cultural practices affecting children to be achieved, communities, irrespective of religious beliefs, must be at the vanguard of the crusade, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
Female genital mutilation, the branding of children as witches, which had been deeply rooted in African culture, to mention just a few, are some of the harmful social and cultural practices the international organisation has been frowning at.
In a statement made available to The Guardian from the D-Field Office of the organisation in Bauchi State, in commemoration of the Day of the African Child, the body stressed the need for community leaders to rise to the challenges of putting an end to the surges, which have continued to dehumanise children.
The UNICEF Director of Programmes, Nicholas Alipui, echoed the need for the communities to be at the forefront in the campaign, as "nothing is as powerful as a community itself seeing the harm being done to its own children and deciding collectively to end the practise."
Further drumming that "communities are key to the health and wellbeing of African children subjected to harsh practices", the need to urgently bring on board policy that will discourage such practices, he said, has become vital.
According to him, national legislative and policy reforms need to be brought in line with African regional legal instruments such as the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, particularly its protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa - and the Africa Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child."
Sad that at the root of "these abuses is inequity", he regretted why some traditions, such as child marriage, so-called honour killings, breast ironing and female infanticide are well still seen as acceptable in the African society.
The practice of female genital mutilation, especially among children, was said to have been over-concentrated in 29 African countries, as well as in the Middle-East with 36 per cent of girls aged 15 and 19, were said to have been cut compared to an estimated 53 per cent of women aged 45 and 49.
Evidence, according to UNICEF, shows that engaging entire communities around human rights on female genital mutilation, especially among children, will lead to greater understanding and abandonment of the harmful practise.
Reiterating the continued readiness of UNICEF to "help prevent harmful practises by putting in legal frameworks and codes of conduct to address and punish perpetrators", the organisation, Alipui added, will go further by harnessing the "leadership of faith-based and other communities to change norms or stresses that perpetuate violence and cause parents, teachers or care-givers to violently discipline children."
The Guardian