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Newsletters - The International Year of the Family

 

Tanzania - Development of Children's Rights

Tanzania is one of the states which recognises the right of every child to be “protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be harmful to the children's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral, or social development.” (Article 32 of the UN Convention on Children's Rights). The Government has been doing all it can to create awareness in society about the rights of children.

Problems

  • Children are prone to many hazards at family level: they are abused, they are used as domestic servants and are low-paid, exploited, used as petty vendors, sexually abused by adults. They are also used in big plantations and industries as cheap labour and poverty drives some parents to send their children to work in towns.

Progress

  • In 2001, the Government launched a programme to stop child labour and sexual abuse. This programme is in cooperation with other stake-holders: such as NGOs which are in the forefront of creating awareness in people by using mass media seminars, workshops, etc.
  • The Government has another programme for free education at primary level, a programme for children whose parents were not able to send them to school and for orphans.
  • The Government, together with other development agencies, has a programme for poverty alleviation. This is a national strategy which aims at eradicating child labour by 2025.

The Church and NGOs

  • The Church has orphanage centres for children in the country whose parents have died from HIV/AIDS and other related diseases. The Church and many other institutions have been supporting such orphans.
  • Church organisations and other development agencies have been promoting income-generating activities for children to raise their standard of living.
  • There are vocational training institutions for children.
  • Awareness creation for the whole society is done by the Government and other organisations like kuleana, a centre for children�s rights sponsored by many international organisations.

So there is progress achieved by the Government with the community on the rights of children. By creating awareness within the community, people have joined together to establish NGOs to fight for the rights of children.

 

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