Child Sacrifice - Dac Memorandum

THEME Accelerated Child Survivaland Development: Creating a Safe Environmentfor Children We,

the

representatives

of the

Children

of

Uganda, met at a National Consultative Meeting in commemoration of the day of the African Child on June 1O, 2009 at Pope Paul Memorial Hall, Kampala. We have identified the threats to the survival of the African Child, witnessed experiences that result from the mistreatment of children and made recommendations aimed at creating a safe environment for the African child.

These threats, experiences and recommendations stem from the forums that have been held in the Northern, Eastern, Central, South Eastern, Teso, Masindi,Western and SouthWestern regionsofthe country as part of the activitiesto commemorate the DAC

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There are many threats affecting the survival and development of the Children of Uganda at school, in the homes, and in the community. These include:

Lack of trustworthy senior women and men teachers Bad peer groups 2.

Home

I. School Corporal punishment by teachers Bulling and teasing especially in boarding schools Congestion especially in boarding schools Homosexuality and lesbianism Sexual abuse and harassment Tribalism / favoritism / nepotism Unqualified teachers especially in government schools Inadequate scholastic materials Nutrition; feeding on one type of food especially in boarding schools Discrimination of slow learners and disabled children Poor sanitation and hygiene Lack of a friendly learning environment for the disabled children; lack of interpreters etc, Drug and substance abuse

Child labor; hard work beyond age and strength not able to even attend Sunday services and other child play activities Poverty; lead to poor nutrition, Poor accommodation; children in one room with parents, animals and utensils Corporal punishments especially by step parents Domestic violence Denial of education due to Ignorance Emotional abuse and psychological torture in case of orphans Medical denial Denial of the right to belong Alcoholism and family negligence Discrimination of the girl child Favoritism especially by step parents

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Incest in homes and the failure to report due to fear of consequences Failure to disclose the child's health status especially with regard to HIV /AIDS

3. Community Denial of participation in community meetings Child sacrifice Sexual abuse; defilement, early marriages etc Stigma and discrimination Child kidnap and trafficking Drug abuse Child labour and exploitation Recruitment of child soldiers Accidents Dependency of children on NGO support and fear of misery incase programs wind-up Mistreatment at the hands of the police and LC when children go to report Rude health workers Limited access to ARV s

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Experiences of child abuse

to be treated by doctors. I vomit what ever I eat. Amidst all these difficulties,

Home

I could not leave school. I managed to complete primary seven, but with no hope of joining secondary school. But God who was ever there for us placed me in the hands of the headmaster of the

My name is x, I am 15 years old, I lost my father in 1996 when I was just three years old. A few days later, my mother said that she could no longer live at home now that her husband had passed away. She ran away from home. After all we did not have a good house and that was enough to make her go. I started a new life as if I was a grown up. I would struggle on my own to look for what to eat, put on, and any other personal effects. I had a step mother who burnt rne with hot water (:,but I later recovered. I then decided to go and stay with my grandparents but they chased me away claiming that I was not their child. I had one time opted to stay with my aunt and for several times, she would give me poisoned food, but God's hand would always protect me. People in my community called me "rubonarnahano" (a person who has gone through several difficulties). I ate anything that I came across, and this made me suffer from complicated abdominal pain, which has even failed

school. He meets all my personal needs. He loves and cares for me. I am now in senior three at his school. I call upon all the government sectors NGOS, and the children to join hands together and fight for the rights of dear children. School There was a teacher in my school who sent one girl to take books to his office and he followed her. He started requesting for love affair but the girls refused and told him that you are old and I am still young, I don't want to marry you and become a widow tomorrow. The teacher started mistreating her, he would give her less marks in class, destroying her books, and heavy punishments. This forced herto drop out of school and get married.

Community Recentlyin our village,I had a friend who was a girl. Shewas a double orphan and her school fees were being paid for by an uncle who was a priest. Before, life moved on well, but later things changed. One day after school, she returned home where she lived with the priest. The priest attempted to rape her, but she was such a brave and

courageous girl. Unfortunately, she had been harassed by the same priest sometime back but persisted. So this time, the priest decided to apply force. He tried to threaten her but she remained strong. So the priest got a wooden glowing sprint and forced it between her thighs. She screamed but there was no help. After all that, the priest locked her in one of the porches at the parish. Fortunately one the parish workers found her and reported the priest to the Police. The priest was arrested and investigations carried out. Finally, the whereabouts of the girl were known and the priest was released on bond after paying some money. The poor girl was taken to stay in an orphanage.

Recommendations "",

Parents, Guardians, relatives and care-takers Should not force their children into early marriages Parental teach the children some morals Step parents should stop Relatives take care of children so they may have a bright future Educate and immunize your children Ensure safety and security of your children Provide basic needs for your

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Government Should set and enforce laws agailJ.stchild abuse Should provide social services to children Provide programsmore sUpportto UPE and USE

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Freedom of speech and ass'ociation;this helps their thinking capacity and il11agination Provide adequate accomodation in.schools Deny bail to defilementand child sacrifice / trafficking suspects

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NGOs Supplement government efforts in education and medical care Provide material support to avc Provide post-war psycho-social counseling Continue conducting community reach-outs

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moral pictures and ample Red-Pepper ttsi, Orumuri, g the public On d reSponsibities ould be kept )f sexual abuse. and photo of

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Provide and maintain security in allparts of the country Provide post-war Psycho-social cOunseling Get a child representative in Parlial11ent Build more vocational and secondaryschools for the disabled children

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Thank you and we hope that our recommendations made at this conference willbe taken up by different stakeholdersfor action.

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