Who Will Save Our Children? (Part 2)

Sequel to the previous post:

Did you know?

· These are just a few of the cases that made it to the public eye as there are still many unrecorded

or undocumented cases in different parts of the country.

· The fact that most of these cases happened in January 2022 leaves one questioning what to

expect before the year ends if drastic measures are not taken urgently to stem this tide.

· One thing that most of these cases have in common is that the suspects or culprits are people

close to the victims? This makes it even more worrisome knowing that no one can be trusted

anymore based on relationship or affiliation to the family.

· All these cases violate the children’s rights to safety and will continue to soar if nothing is done.

· The perpetrators especially those known to the victim take time to plan, monitor and execute their

plans to avoid being suspected or caught.

Parents and Guardians

Protection of the child is a collective effort starting from the home.

· Parents and guardians should put more stringent measures in place to protect their children.

· Work should not be an excuse for leaving the children unguided or unsupervised

· Avoid sending the children out at night or to lonely places alone.

· Don’t forget that they are children, don’t turn them into adults by making them take up adult

roles, tasks or responsibilities such as hawking to bring money for the home with the excuse

of grooming them to be independent and preparing them for the future.

· Do a careful review of a school’s safety policies and measures put in place to protect the

children before selecting that school.

· Teach the children in your care not to trust anyone especially in your absence and avoid

random visits to people’s homes.

· Avoid doing the same routine with your children to make their movement and activities

unpredictable.

· Work on your temperament as parents or guardians and learn suitable ways to reprimand

the children devoid of any form of physical or verbal abuse.

· Avoid taking other people’s children as maids or domestic staff if you know that you are not

capable of taking care of them. Children are constantly being abused for stealing food

which is often a result of hunger or starvation from their guardians.

· As parents, it is important to give birth to the number of children you can take care of to

avoid sending your children later to other people as domestic staff or maids as a result of

being financially incapable of providing for them.

Government and Stakeholders

Child protection should be your top priority because the future we all envisage, may soon be extinct if urgent measures are not put in place to keep our children safe at all times. The relevant stakeholders include non-governmental organisations, religious bodies, academic and non-academic institutions such as mass media among others.

· Introduce and implement more stringent laws for child offenders.

· Commence an immediate review and subsequent implementation of all existing child based laws

and policies.

· Trial and punishment of offenders should be expedited and severe.

· There should be regular awareness campaigns in various mass media, institutions and other

public places to enlighten people about child rights and what is considered a violation of such

rights.

· Reporting any form of abuse against a child to the relevant authorities is also a way of saving the

children. Avoid staying away or silent when you witness abuse of a child. The lives of many

children have been saved because a neighbour, friend or bystander interfered early.

· Academic institutions should also provide a safe environment for the children by providing the

needed security and putting measures in place to ensure the children don't loiter during school

hours, secure environment, visitors and safe movement of the children from the school to their

homes among others.

· Religious bodies and academic institutions should include child protection and safety themes

regularly in their messages, lectures, seminars among others and also practice what they preach.

Many of these violators are their subjects and such messages will help reduce this menace.

· Influencers, celebrities, musicians, writers and others in the creative industry should also use their

platforms to create awareness and showcase any child offender to serve as a deterrent to others.

· Brands should also avoid using ambassadors, images, captions, slogans, loglines or taglines that

promote or suggest violence against children.

Final words

Saving our children is indeed a collective effort, and we all should be ready to make put in more work to see that our children are protected, safe, healthy and happy.

Don’t wait till your child falls victim, be part of the campaign to save our children.