Adhola's campaign to protect children's rights

The Tieng Adhola cultural institution has launched a vigorous grassroots campaign to promote the rights and welfare of children in the entire kingdom.

The paramount chief Moses Stephen Owor tasked members of his cabinet to ensure that they collectively work with clan leaders and the local council officials to bring to an end the issues of abuse of children's rights in their localities.

Speaking during the campaign launch at a function organized and supported by Plan International Uganda held at Linkway Business Institute and attended by all the cabinet ministers, Owor rallied his subordinates to partner with development partners and support all government programs especially those intended to promote their welfare, fight ignorance and disease.

He thanked Plan International Uganda for the good gesture saying they are more than ready to work closely with them to make the kingdom a better place free of child abuse.

Elino Omachar from Plan International Uganda said the campaign is part of the collaborative partnership that the organization is building up with all cultural institutions to tackle the problem since cultural institutions are key in addressing the grassroots causes.

Thomas Okoth Nyalulu, the third deputy premier and minister of protocol, said the campaign is in line with the two key objectives of the institution which emphasize enhancing the protection and welfare of the children through education, promoting the rights to protection of children and having a position in cabinet specifically responsible for the children.

He said through community dialogue, the Adhola has identified the most common risks to children wellbeing as including rampant domestic violence which is rated at 70%.

Ill health and malnutrition leading to stunted growth, rampant children marriages, teenage pregnancy and rampant community poverty also impact negatively on young people.

Basing on this information, the kingdom has made key pronouncements:

no refund of bride price in the event of a marriage being dissolved

children belong to the community and not to an individual household

education shall become cultural norm

early marriage and teenage pregnancy shall not be tolerated

The cultural institution shall work with both central and district local government to fight harmful community practices, fight against child labor, fight denial of parental care, love and child neglect and the alarming rate of school dropout especially amongst the girls.

Nyalulu said that in order to achieve all this, the institution is in the process of strengthening clan structures to promote total attachment to communities so that child protection and welfare can  be promoted, monitored, reported, referred and even corrected if anything goes wrong at that level.

They also plan to revive oral tradition to child at school which used to take place at the fireplace in the olden days, with elders inculcating cultural norms and practices to the children, among other strategies.