The award was presented at a ceremony in Geneva on Tuesday at a ceremony convened by the World Future Council, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UNICEF during the 133rd IPU assembly.
The Zanzibar Children’s Act is an outstanding piece of legislation. It earned the 2015 award for its balanced coverage of prohibitions of child abuse and violence against children and for its promotion of child rights – two important topics for children’s welfare worldwide.
Since the enactment of the law Zanzibar has seen a favourable and significant shift of social attitudes towards children, the award citation statement declared.
The Act lays the foundation for the establishment of a comprehensive national child protection system to handle cases of children in need of care and protection, and already notable achievements have been recorded in its operationalization.
These include the establishment of district child protection committees, the establishment of Children’s Courts, the designation of Police Gender and Children’s Desks in every police station in Zanzibar and a rolling out of training to social welfare and frontline justice officials .
These include the establishment of district child protection committees, the establishment of Children’s Courts, the designation of Police Gender and Children’s Desks in every police station in Zanzibar and a rolling out of training to social welfare and frontline justice officials .
An exciting feature of this legislation was the child consultation process which provides young people with an understanding of the law and their rights. It gives children a voice in the development of the legislation and resulted in the establishment of over 200 Children’s Councils in the Isles.
On learning about the Gold prize, Asha Abdullah, Principal Secretary of the Zanzibar Ministry of Empowerment, Social, Welfare, Youth, Women and Children said: “This is a great honour. The award will not only raise global awareness of our model of child rights legislation, but also enhance our commitment to its implementation in Zanzibar.”
UNICEF in Tanzania played a key role in providing the Government of Zanzibar with technical and financial support in the development of the Act and continues to provide assistance, with support from the European Union, in working towards bringing the legislation from paper to practice.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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