ECOWAS member states experts converge to review ECOWAS child policy

The ECOWAS Directorate of Humanitarian and Social Affairs in the Department of Human Development and Social Affairs organized a three (3) day meeting of the Directors in charge of Child Rights from the Member States in Lagos, Federal Republic of Nigeria from 19-21 November, 2024.

The Meeting provided the opportunity to review the actions taken by Member States towards the implementation of the ECOWAS Child Policy adopted by the Heads of States and Governments in June 2019; and also conduct a ‘soft baseline’ analysis of the state of the four cluster areas of child rights in the region.

During the Opening Ceremony, the Director of Humanitarian and Social Affairs, Dr. Sintiki Tarfa UGBE, represented by the Program Officer, Social Dimension of Trafficking in Persons, Mr. Olatunde Olayemi reiterated the commitment of the ECOWAS Commission in creating the conducive environment in the region for the realisation of the rights and aspirations of every child.

She called on the Member States to make adequate provisions in their national budgets for the implementation of child rights programmes.

The representative of the Regional Working Group on Child Protection (Groupe de Travail Régional sur la Protection de l’Enfant (GRPE)), Ms. Abena Yemoah, expressed the desire and commitment of the group towards accelerated implementation of child protection initiatives in the West African region. The representative of UNICEF at the meeting, Mrs. Adebisi Arije, Partnership Manager, also congratulated ECOWAS on the orgnaization of the meeting and expressed the unwavering commitment of UNICEF to the cause of child rights in the region.

The representative of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as the Chair of the meeting, thanked the ECOWAS Commission for organizing the meeting, noting that the well being of children is a basic condition for a guaranteed future for the West Africa Region.

She called on the participants to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the meeting to assess what progress has been recorded, identify gaps and challenges with a view to feasible solutions, and share experiences towards the attainment of the objectives of the ECOWAS Child Policy.

During the Meeting, among other presentations, the first draft ECOWAS Children’s Rights Information Management System (ECRIMS) 2023 Report as well as the Online Tool aiming to enhance data collection and analysis as well as for the creation of a database, were presented and reviewed.

There were also presentations during the meeting by the Member State Experts based on their respective National Programmes towards the implementation of the ECOWAS Child Policy.

The Meeting ended with the renewed commitment of the ECOWAS Commission, Member States and Partners to implement the ECOWAS Child Policy while strengthening the various National Child Protection Systems. Twelve Directors from the ECOWAS Member States, staff of the ECOWAS Commission, and representatives from the UNICEF, IOM, ILO and the International Social Service-West Africa (ISS-WA) attended the three-day meeting.