OAU head says more must be done for children

The head of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) has said that the continent is still "failing" its children. African governments had "not lived up to our undertakings" after setting up a continent-wide charter to protect children, OAU Secretary-General Amara Essy said on Sunday.

Essy said that despite a decade having elapsed since the adoption of the charter, "our overall performance to achieve our promises to children has not been satisfactory".

"The situation of most African children remains critical and their rights continue to be violated," he said in a speech to mark Day of the African Child. "They still remain the most vulnerable and disadvantaged group in relation to the many socioeconomic problems ravaging our continent. A great deal more needs to be done for our children if we want to fulfil our promise to them."

Essy, who took up his post as head of the OAU last September, stressed that more needed to be done to inform children of their rights.

He said more countries should sign up to the charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, and African governments should adopt a new approach to the issue. "We must talk with the African child, give him the floor, in such a way that the experience of the adults and the expectations of the child combine to produce the fruitful future of action and the attainment of his rights for a better world," he said.

"As we commemorate the Day of the African Child, we should remind ourselves that the African child deserves a lot more – a better tomorrow and a brighter future in the next decade and beyond," Essy added.

The charter was adopted by the OAU in 1990 in addition to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It finally came into being in 1999. The OAU said the African charter should take into account the socioeconomic, political and cultural differences of Africa. But so far, only 26 countries of the 54 OAU member states have ratified it.