Gender Boss Applauds ECOWAS For Child Protection Efforts In Liberia
Liberia Gender Minister, Williametta Saydee-Tarr
By Decontee M. Wesseh
Gender Minister Williametta Saydee-Tarr has expressed delight in the ‘tremendous’ efforts and initiatives of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in ensuring protection of the rights and dignity of Liberian children.
“We must leave no child behind for Africa’s development, irrespective of status or background, because every child has inclusive rights to Liberia’s development,” Tarr stated recently at the opening of a technical training workshop with ECOWAS.
Tarr indicated the children of Liberia are still faced with huge challenges, ranging from abandonment, persistent non-support, child rape, susceptibility to violence and abuses, hunger, as well as relatively low-quality parenting.
The Gender Minister, who made reference to the Ministry’s Juvenile Unit 2018 first-quarter report which recorded 37 cases including simple assault, theft of property, child conflicts, abandonment, street children and rape, said the number is “alarming.”
“Other statistics also shows that child labor involving approximately 5-14 year olds still remains a challenge in Liberia,” Tarr added.
According to her, in urban areas children are seen selling in the streets, while those that reside in the rural areas are engaged in undue agriculture, fishing and mining activities, especially in hazardous environments.
“Our girl children are also employed in homes to do domestic work, which put them at risk of physical and sexual harassment. Additionally, about 39.2% of Liberian children around the ages of 15-17 years have experienced physical violence,” she pointed out.
She said the workshop, which was organized by the ECOWAS in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, is “a great strategic framework for strengthening national child protection system.”
Tarr, however, reassured the ECOWAS and other partners of the Gender Ministry’s commitment to work with them in ensuring that the rights and dignity of children in Liberia are paramount.
“Such commitment goes as far as making sure that Liberia’s National Child Protection Policy is implemented in its fullest as required under the laws of the country,” she assured.
The technical training workshop is geared towards preventing and responding to violence, abuse, and exploitation against children in West Africa by ECOWAS member states.
It is aimed at enhancing participants’ knowledge to understand the current trends in child protection and discuss the existing international, regional and national frameworks on child protection and child labour as well as developing a reporting tool to monitor the actual implementation of the guidelines and the sharing of best practices in child protection generally and the elimination of child labour in particular.
