GCAP celebrates Day of African Child on June 16, 2007

National coalitions across Africa will take joint action to commemorate the Day of the African Child on and around 16 June. The aim of this pan-African mobilisation day is to bring together millions of youth and children to call on political leaders to honor their commitments to eliminate poverty and improve health, education equality and protection for all the continent's children. The theme for this year's Day is "Combat Child Trafficking". Trafficking of children is one of the most severe violations of human rights in Africa and the world today, involving over a million children worldwide.

In the Gambia, GCAP supporters will converge in several coastal towns for major awareness raising events on child trafficking. Open forums and discussions with local communities will provide an opportunity to reflect on this practice and spread messages on the need to eliminate it in the Gambia.

In Niger, the national coalition will organize a public debate involving school children and policymakers on the country's progress to ensure that every child goes to school.   

In Tanzania, campaigners will support this year's local theme - child health as the foundation for child development – with a football competition for street children.  

The Day of the African Child was established by the African Union to remember the thousands of black school children who marched on 16 June 1976 in Soweto, South Africa to protest the inferior quality of their education and apartheid policies of the South African government. During the march, hundreds of young boys and girls were shot down. The Day of the African Child honors the memory of those killed and the courage of all the young boys and girls who marched that day. The Day of the African Child has been celebrated on 16 June every year since 1991, when it was first initiated by the African Union. The Day also draws attention to the plight of African children today.

For further details of events across Africa, please contact gcap.africa@gmail.com .