“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” — Nelson Mandela, Former President of South Africa.
Children are considered the most vulnerable members in society due to their dependency on adult supervision in the provision of their basic needs such as physical protection, food, universal state-paid education, health care, and criminal laws appropriate for the age and development of the child. According to the United Nations Rights of a Child, children’s rights are a subset of human rights with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to minors.
Children’s rights also include but are not limited to their rights to human identity as well as freedom from discrimination and all forms of conflict or participation in conflict situations. According to UNICEF,an estimated 10.6 million people including 6.2 million children living in inaccessible areas need humanitarian assistance in northeast Nigeria. Thousands of children have been displaced from their homes and remain at risk of various forms of exploitation including sexual exploitation due to their high vulnerability states.
Protection gaps have been evident in IDP Camps particularly in service delivery and access to justice’ for girls, who are the major victims of assault. This protection deficit in response of sexual exploitation and abuse of displaced minors has revealed inadequate prioritisation of gender-based violence programming both by the government and NGOs in Nigeria.
Among these child survivors of conflict, 1.3 million children have no access to educational services or adequate information. It must be enforced that children of must receive protection from physical, mental and emotional freedom from abuse.
When defining Child sexual abuse, it can be seen as, ‘a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation or any form of threatened, attempted or actual sexual activity with a child by an adult or by another child who has more power – Medline Plus. U.S. National Library of Medicine. 2008-04-02
The Anneozeng Ogozi Aid Foundation(AOAF) has a core thematic area in Education and Protection, particularly Child protection. Under our Child Aid Program (CAP) specifically designed to create initiatives that cater to these core areas. Our Sexual Abuse Prevention and Education for Kids(SAPEK) initiative, focuses on raising awareness and sensitizing children on Child Sexual Abuse (CSA). AOAF has successfully carried out advocacy interventions in IDP Camps across Abuja With our primary target group being children, particularly girls between the ages of 7 to 16 who are majorly at risk of child marriage,commercial sexual exploitation and being victims of sex in exchange for food, shelter and clothing. SAPEK sessions allow children to learn in safe spaces through play and pictorial representations about their bodies and how to identify and protect themselves from sexual predators. Having accurate understanding of CSA and sharing this information with children is helping children understand and better manage impacts of abuse through child-friendly education and information sharing. SAPEK is giving children audience to ask necessary questions, correct misconceptions and gain access to free and useful information.