North, southern Africa rank high for respect of children's rights

The respect of children’s rights is one of the basic principles of the United Nations resulting in the global ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989.

The rights of children is however not adhered to by some countries as highlighted in the latest KidsRights Index that ranks countries to stimulate compliance with children’s rights worldwide.

The 2017 ranking – published by international NGO KidsRights Foundation – was based on United Nations data and covers five domains including rights to life, health, education, protection and enabling environment for Child Rights.

Among the 165 countries ranked, North and southern African countries scored highest in Africa.

Tunisia ranked 9th globally, followed by Egypt, Libya, Algeria and Morocco ranking 16th, 59th, 69th and 80th respectively in North Africa.

In southern Africa, South Africa ranked 84th, followed by Namibia and Botswana ranking 92nd and 104th.

The least performing countries in Africa include the Central African Republic, Sierra Leone, Chad, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau ranking 165, 163, 161, 160, and 159 respectively.

Among the global bottom-ten countries are the United Kingdom and New Zealand which ranked 156 and 158 respectively.

“Discrimination against vulnerable groups of children and youths should be met head-on by all 165 governments represented in the Index. It is severely hampering the opportunities of future generations to reach their full potential,” Marc Dullaert, founder and chairman of the KidsRights Foundation said.