Bukavu: MONUSCO participates to the organization of 30-day activism for conflicts-affected children

6 juil 2015

Bukavu: MONUSCO participates to the organization of 30-day activism for conflicts-affected children

Bukavu, 3 July 2015 – Thirty-day activism for the children affected by armed conflicts was launched on Friday 3rd July 2015 by Ms. Gisèle Balegamire, Minister of Justice within the framework of the International Day of the African Child, commemorated on 16 June of each year.

It is under theme girls’ protection during the armed conflicts that this day has been commemorated this year. In this regard, the Section Child Protection of MONUSCO and the Office Volontariat de l'Enfance et la Santé (BVES) co-organized a cultural session in the French Alliance hall in Bukavu. Songs, dances, play lets as well as declarations of the child victims were the basic cultural activities organized on that day. Hundreds people, including representatives of MONUSCO/South-Kivu, military officers, representatives of Child Rights Defense NGOs and several children took part.

Christine Kapalata, head of MONUSCO/South-Kivu office said the 30-day activism will help “prevent recruitment and Sexual Violence against girls in the South-Kivu.” Christine Kapalata further said “lasting peace in the DRC cannot be achieved without enforcing respect for child’s rights.” In this regard, “MONUSCO continues to collaborate closely with DRC government to ensure that these commitments are fulfilled.”

The provincial government, through its ministry of Justice pledged to accompany inasmuch as possible the thirty days campaign “No more Kadogo (child soldiers)”. The provincial Minister of Justice Gisèle Balegamire said “Democratic Republic of Congo managed to elaborate laws for the protection of child laws and does crack down on the perpetrators of those rights.” She mentioned two important laws in this area: the law on sexual violence and the one on child protection. Violation of the Congolese child’s rights has been exacerbated with repeated or protracted armed conflicts since 1996.

Some children victims of armed conflicts made declarations to say no to the recruitment and use of children by armed groups. As a reminder, the African Child Day commemorates the massacres of the Soweto children in 1976 under the Apartheid rule in South Africa.

Biliaminou