National campaign to protect children under way

A nationwide campaign to establish district committees charged overseeing implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is under way in the Central African Republic (CAR), Marie Edith Douzima-Lawson, a lawyer and president of the national commission in charge of monitoring the implementation of the Convention, told IRIN on 27 September. Headed by the Commission Nationale de Suivi de la Convention Relative aux Droits de l'Enfant of the CAR Ministry of Justice, and supported by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the campaign aims to set up local committees in all districts of the country. The effort was officially launched in the CAR capital, Bangui, on 19 September by the CAR justice minister, Marcel Metefara, together with the UNICEF country representative, Aboudou Karimou Adjibade, and Lady Mayor of Bangui Cecile Gueret. Douzima-Lawson said the district committees would monitor local developments and report to the national commission. Such committees had already been established at the provincial level, and would be inaugurated at the sub-provincial level "very soon", Douzima-Lawson noted. [More information on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child]