Africa's children face new rights crisis

Tomorrow is the Day of the African Child. Perhaps never before has there been so much to celebrate and also be concerned about. Children in Kenya now get universal free primary education, free healthcare for under-fives and improved access to national child protection services, among other gains. But they now also face the risk of a decline in their rights due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Take, for example, Nairobi’s informal settlement of Korogocho, whose 200,000 people live beside, and often work on, the capital city’s garbage dump. Among them is Ali, one of 11 siblings, who live with their mother in a one-room dwelling made from corrugated metal sheets. Last year, his mother got by vending homemade perfume.

Despite their poverty, Ali said he led a “positive life” and enjoyed being a member of the local football academy, Acakoro, which is supported by Unicef. “They pay my school fees and give me a uniform,” Ali said. “I get to eat at the academy.”

But children in Korogocho cannot play football at the moment. Like elsewhere, their lives have changed as Covid-19 brought dramatic changes with school closures and restriction of movement and put the health system under pressure.

It’s families like Ali’s that we should be the most concerned about. We know that, in any crisis, the young and the most vulnerable suffer disproportionately. With one in two Kenyan children living in poverty, the ripple effects of the coronavirus are daunting. We cannot let this health crisis turn into a child rights crisis. Now, more than ever, we must do all we can to protect children and support their parents.

We all listen to the daily updates. The government’s approach and the resolve by the citizens to slow the transmission of the coronavirus appears to work, but the social and economic impact is mounting.

In the informal settlements, overcrowding and poor sanitation makes regular handwashing and social distancing difficult. We should also be aware of the situation and challenges the nearly 500,000 refugees in the Dadaab and Kakuma camps face.

The children’s education has also been directly affected with 18 million students out of school. A survey by Kenya Institute for Curriculum Development (KICD) found that seven in 10 respondents access broadcast and online lessons — mostly through TV, followed by radio and then the internet. This means at least three in 10 learners cannot access the remote lessons, at times because their homes lack simple equipment like a radio.

Away from the safety of school, they are also at greater risk of abuse and neglect. Many households live in fear of the virus, loss of livelihoods and an uncertain future. And children can become the outlet for the mounting tension. Adolescent girls are especially vulnerable to sexual and gender-based violence, with an increase in reported child marriage cases.

The pandemic also poses a significant risk of increase in illness and deaths from other preventable and treatable diseases as health services become overwhelmed at the expense of routine healthcare. This is starting to happen in some areas with essential health services such as hospital deliveries and outpatient department visits for children under five plummeting.

We should not allow Kenya’s gains for children to slide back, but instead stay on course for a bright future for every child.

Ms Zaman is the Unicef Representative in Kenya. @maniza_zaman