Child rights organizations have been challenged to initiate campaigns to educate children and their parents on their rights as the long December holidays begin as a way of stopping abuse.
Such campaigns could forestall incidents of defilement among young innocent learners in the wake of growing early pregnancies among children in grade six and below in many parts of the country.
Children rights crusader and lawyer Lukas Matiko Chacha said children face serious social, psychological and physical dangers, hence the need for all stakeholders to be active to ensure children’s safety.
In an interview with Education News, Chacha said issues of safety during holidays should be mainstreamed into education, religion and normal life through special programmes involving all learners.
Human rights organisations, Chacha said, should research on how sexual crimes against children are being tackled and ascertain if culprits are being identified and charged in courts of law.
The lawyer said parents and guardians have difficulties familiarizing themselves with the penal code so that when children are exposed to crime, legal remedial measures are taken.
“Most reports of defilement, some of which lead to unwanted pregnancies, are fodder for the media while the criminals involved are completely out of the picture,” said the lawyer.
The lawyer, who manages Kenya Evangelical Adolescent Girls and Women Rights programme, which operates under the Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church (KELC), wondered how long it takes to identify and charge those defiling innocent girls.
By Robert Nyagah
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