Children’s Parliament urges govt to prioritise their rights
A children’s Parliament that sat in Dowa from Thursday to Friday last week appealed to government and other stakeholders to help end child rights violations.
Some of the concerns raised during the two-day session include inadequate health facilities, sexual harassment, increased child marriages and poor quality education in the district.
One of the parliamentarians from Dzaleka Refugee Camp, Damien Baraka, who was also the deputy speaker, said the children’s Parliament was important as it gave them a platform to articulate issues affecting children.
Another parliamentarian from Dowa West Constituency, Kiliness Willet, observed that education standards are going down, such that there is need to bring back the abolished Junior Certificate of Education (JCE) exams as a checkpoint for learners.
In an interview, Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare chief child development officer Harry Satumba said government will create an enabling environment for child rights protection in the country. The sitting of the children’s Parliament was funded by World Vision Malawi, When the Saints and Plan International.
