By STEPHEN KAPAMBWE –
THE 10th of December every year is commemorated as International Human Rights Day.
This day came about by the actions of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly’s position to adopt the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.
After this adoption, the UN extended an invitation to all nations and interested organisations in 1950 to observe this day as Human Rights Day each year.
This year’s Human Rights Day was geared towards launching a year-long campaign for the 50th anniversary of two international covenants on economic, social and cultural rights, and also the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which were adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1966.
The two covenants with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights form the International Bill of Rights which is the birthright of all human beings.
This emphasize rights and freedoms; such as freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear.
The campaign theme for this year’s International Human Rights Day is ‘Our rights, our freedoms, always’.

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To launch this important day, UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, called on countries of the world to “recommit to guarantee the fundamental freedoms and protecting the human rights of all”.
His words summed up the duty of everyone, starting from governments, civil society and individuals, to take stock of their actions in ensuring that the rights of all members of society, who include the most vulnerable ones, the children, have a moral responsibility by defending, promoting and protecting their fundamental rights.
Zambia ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1991.
By ratifying this international instrument, the Government assumed the responsibilities of ensuring that a full range of human rights; civil, political, economic, social and cultural are implemented.
The UNCRC is also a comprehensive UN treaty for the protection and support of children.
By ratifying the UNCRC, the country announced to the rest of the world its commitment to putting up institutional, legal, and policy frameworks for purposes of improving the welfare of children.
But President Edgar Lungu, who graced the International Human Rights day celebrations in Lusaka, lamented that many countries – especially in Africa – are yet to build adequate legal, political and economic institutions and systems with necessary capacities to protect and promote the inherent rights and freedoms, especially of children.
Although Zambia has made progress in safeguarding the importance of human rights even in the recent amending of the national Constitution, which is just waiting for presidential assent, many children do not get to fully enjoy their rights.
According to SOS Children’s Villages Zambia, there is need for greater effort towards effectively implementing human rights, especially those of the most vulnerable members of society, who are children.
This is in line with Zambia’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
In a statement released to commemorate the Human Rights Day in Lusaka recently, SOS Children’s Villages Zambia national director Joseph Munsanje expressed sadness that the Health and Well-being Survey on Violence against Children reported “a lot of violence on children in the country”.
He said the violence is mostly physical, sexual and emotional.
“On sexual violence, the Zambia Health and Wellness Survey reveals that one in five girls and one in ten boys in Zambia experience sexual abuse before the age of 18. 28.3 per cent of girls and 6.8 per cent of boys aged 13-17 describe their first intercourse as unwanted.
“Above all, none of the girls who had experienced sexual abuse prior to age 18 had access to support services,” he said.
He further said physical violence is also on the increase.
Half of all children report witnessing violence in the home prior to age 18 (51.3 per cent of girls and 49.0 per cent of boys).
He said more girls experience sexual abuse while more boys experience physical abuse.
“Then one third of girls and 40.1 per cent of boys experience physical abuse before age of 18. This abuse happens at house, school and community levels,” he said.
Emotional violence is also listed as being quite high in Zambia among children.
Various reports say 15.9 per cent of girls and 20 per cent of boys report emotional abuse by a parent or care giver.
In addition, rampant child marriages in the country pose a challenge to the wellbeing of the children.
Zambia is ranked third in Southern Africa, at 42 per cent of child marriages where women between the ages of 20-24 get married by the age of 18.
Eastern Province leads with 60 per cent of child marriages.
Mr Musanje appealed to the Government to put in place measures aimed at protecting the children from abuse.
He said the Government should, among other things, expedite enactment of laws and policies to deter perpetrators of violence against children.
He also called for the promotion of child protection manuals at all levels of society as well as training of Government ministries on prevention of gender based violence and survivors of violence.
He appealed for an increment in budgeting for child protection; publicising and promoting of a guide on child protection in schools and community as well as a review of the national code of conduct for school teachers.
He called for the spearheading of school and community based prevention by coordinating Police, justice, gender and social welfare response services.
“Above all, Government should promote positive parenting practices and effective parent-child communication on sexuality to curb childhood sexual violence,” he said.
Since inception of the SOS Children’s Village in Lusaka in 1999, the organisation has been instrumental in carrying out various social development programs to promote child rights, advocacy on alternative care, gender, family strengthening, family based care, education, health and child protection.
According to SOS Children’s Villages Zambia national advocacy officer Gerald Kaputo, the organisation is involved in child care and promoting child rights to augment efforts of Government efforts in realising the rights of children in the country.
“For instance, SOS Children’s Villages Zambia, since its inception in 1999, has carried out many social programmes which include raising awareness on child rights in communities, imploring Government to commit to the UN guidelines on alternative care to ensure quality care to children who have lost or are about to lose parents,” he said.
The organisation also offers medical services and this year alone about 48,000 people have benefited from such services.
SOS also provides other health services provided for the community, like HIV/AIDS awareness, voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), cervical cancer screening, male circumcision, prevention and care services.
Besides that, the institution’s Family Based Care programmes (FBC) provide a loving home and care to children who have lost their parents or whose parents are unable to suitably care for them. 755 beneficiaries are currently in the programme.
In order to prevent children from running away from their biological families, SOS Children’s Villages Zambia has programmess which help families to be economically stable.
The programs assist children in families and communities of origin by building the capacity of care givers and communities to address problems affecting children and prevent factors that lead to child abandonment.
“7,774 families are benefiting from Family Strengthening Programs in the country from SOS Children’s Villages interventions.
“SOS Children Villages Zambia has also been on course to supplement Government efforts in providing quality education to children.
The education facilities develop a child holistically through early childhood and have 281 beneficiaries currently,” Mr Kaputo said.
The institution’s primary schools have 1,186 beneficiaries countrywide; 252 beneficiaries in secondary schools and 165 beneficiaries in the vocational training centre.
These figures are just for year 2015.
Mr Kaputo regretted that Zambia was also grappling with child marriages.
“Zambia is the third highest country with cases of child marriages in the SADC region and 19th in the world,” he said.
He called on the community to work in conjunction with Government to end violence against children
He further appealed for enactment of laws and development of policies which will deter perpetrators of violence against children.
He said for human rights to be respected, the community should change its attitudes towards children.