Oyo state Chairman of the Association of Orphans and Vulnerable Children Non-Governmental Organisations in Nigeria (AONN), Pastor Marcus Williams, has said that 50 per cent of refugees in Africa are children.
Addressing a press conference in Ibadan on this year’s International Day of African Child celebration, Pastor Williams said less than three million children of the refugees are forced out of their origins due to various humanitarian crises.
Pastor Williams maintained that children all over the world are facing a lot of challenges as their rights and privileges are been trampled upon by people who ought to be protecting them.
“Children constitute a significant proportion of populations on the move across international and national borders globally, with a large number of those children moving from and across Africa, Nigeria especially children in South West and Oyo in particular. In Africa, 50 per cent of refugees are children, with about three million children forced out of their origins due to various humanitarian crises. Among migrants, nearly 1 in 3 is a child, which is more than twice the global average.”
The AONN Chairman added that “the requirement to place children’s rights first is an indication that where there is an obligation, the requisite body or individual must fulfil such an obligation in the interests of the child or children concerned. This is a restatement of the need to uphold the best interests of the child at all times.”
Pastor Williams noted that stakeholders are under obligation to evaluate the viability of their policies to cater for children in vulnerable situations, including children with disabilities, to ensure that their rights are upheld, adding that humanitarian crises have far-reaching implications and affect all strata of society.
