President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has declared Thursday, June 16, as The Day of The African Child to be observed throughout the country as a Working Holiday.

According to a Foreign Ministry release, a Proclamation issued by the President calls upon all citizens and foreign residents, national and international youth organizations and all government agencies concerned to join the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to execute appropriate programs befitting the observance of the Day. 

The Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), now African Union (AU), adopted Resolution No. 1240 in 1990, declaring June 16 of each year as the “Day of the Africa Child” to focus awareness of the problems and address their effects on the young African population.

The significance of the observance of the Day of the African Child is in memory of hundreds of school children who were brutally massacred in Soweto, South Africa, by the then Apartheid Regime in June 1976, while advocating for equal rights and opportunities.

Liberian children will join other children across the African Continent to celebrate the Day under the theme: “Protecting All Children’s Rights During Conflict and Crisis In Africa”.

The National Legislature of Liberia, in adherence to the Convention of the Rights of the Child, in 1992 ratified the Convention by an Act which guarantees the full protection of children from all forms of derivation and abuse.