The President of the Republic of Liberia, His Excellency Dr. George Manneh Weah, has by Proclamation declared Friday, June 16, 2023 as the “Day of the African Child”, to be observed throughout the Republic as a working holiday.
According to a Foreign Ministry release, the Government of Liberia (GOL) will join the African Union Commission (AUC) and other international partners to observe the day with children across the African Continent under the Global theme, “The Rights of Children in the Digital Environment”, and the national theme, “Promoting Digital Literacy and Security for Every Liberian Child”.
On that day, history recorded the brutal massacre in Soweto, the Republic of South Africa, of protesting black school students against Apartheid, while advocating for equal rights and opportunities.
According to the Proclamation, the core significance of the observance of the Day of the African Child is firstly in memory of hundreds of black school children who participated in the Soweto uprising in 1976.
An assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), now African Union Commission (AUC), in keeping with Resolution CM/RES.1290 XL commemorates annually on June 16 of each year as the “Day of the African Child” to focus and emphasize on the awareness of the problems and design remedies to adequately address the effects on the young African population, the Proclamation recounted.
The Proclamation further indicated that, in adherence to the Convention of the Right of the Child, the Government of the Republic of Liberia ratified the Convention by an Act of Legislature in 1992, which guarantees the full protection of children from all forms of depravation and abuse.
The Proclamation also disclosed that on Friday, June 16, 2023, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, in collaboration with her international partners, will hold an official in-door program at the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ministerial Complex in Congo Town, Montserrado County, commencing at Ten O’clock ante meridian.
The Proclamation therefore calls upon all Liberian citizens and foreign residents, national and international youth organizations as well as government agencies concerned to join the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to plan and implement appropriate programs befitting the occasion.
