ST. KITTS AND NEVIS MARKS TWO INTERNATIONAL CHILD PROTECTION OBSERVANCES

Basseterre, St. Kitts, November 19, 2020 (SKNIS): St. Kitts and Nevis is commemorating two international observances that highlight the need to protect and raise children in a safe environment.

Today, Thursday, November 19, 2020, is the World Day for the Prevention of Child Abuse while tomorrow, Friday, November 20, is World Children’s Day.

According to apa.org, the World Day for the Prevention of Child Abuse was launched in 2000 by the Women’s World Summit Foundation. The website un.org, notes that the World Children’s Day observance was first celebrated on November 20, 1954, as Universal Children’s Day. Five years later in 1959, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child on November 20. The day also marked the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989.

Staff from the Department of Probation and Child Protection Services appeared on the radio and television programme Working for You on Wednesday (November 18) to highlight the need to safeguard the well-being of children.

Gerald Connor, Acting Director of the Department of Probation and Child Protection Services said that St. Kitts and Nevis was the first OECS (Organization Eastern Caribbean States) member state to sign the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989. He said that the country’s record of child welfare is commendable.

“We have led the way in the charge when it comes to protecting children, putting frameworks and facilities in place … as we go about doing what we have to do in the department,” Mr Connor said.

Naren Maynard, Supervisor for Probation, highlighted that children do have rights too as enshrined in the Convention of the Rights of the Child. The Convention features 54 Articles including the right to life; freedom of expression; education; freedom of association; protection of the law and others.

“It is very important for us to teach our children these rights,” Mr Maynard stated. “We want parents to be mindful of that. Children do have rights; they are humans just like we as adults and we need to know these rights and respect these rights.”

The Convention on the Rights of the Child can be accessed at www.unicef.org/child-rights-convention.
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