INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD
June 16, 2016
The Day of the African Child is celebrated globally every year on June 16. It was initiated by the African Union in the year 1991. The day is observed to remember and honor the African children who participated and lost their lives in the Soweto uprising in 1976.
On June 16, 1976 in Soweto, South Africa, about ten thousand black school children took part in a procession, protesting the poor quality of their education and demanding their right to be taught in their own language. Hundreds of young students were shot, the most famous of which being Hector Peterson. More than a hundred people were killed in the protests of the following two weeks, and more than a thousand were injured.
The Day of the African Child (DAC) 2016 will be observed under the theme “CONFLICT AND CRISIS IN AFRICA: PROTECTING ALL CHILDREN’S RIGHTS”.
The aims of the Day of the African Child is providing good education, health care facilities, taking care of the malnourished children, protecting the children from sexual violence and to protest against the harmful practices such as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
On this Day let us think about the voices of the children of Africa, and think about how we can prevent many more being lost.
with en.wikipedia.org
Image courtesy: / dullahomarinstitute.org.za/ www.humanium.org
