WHY BABY DUMPING?

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"Mankind owes to the child the best that it has to give" With these words as a bedrock, Geneva convention adopted the rights of a child through the endorsement of the League of Nations General Assembly on 26th September 1924 followed by its declaration in 1959.  It was initially adopted by INTERNATIONAL SAVE THE CHILDREN UNION on 23rd February,1923. It is called DECLARATION OF GENEVA. it says: 

  • The child must be given the means requisite for its normal development, both materially and spiritually;
  • The child that is hungry must be fed; the child that is sick must be nursed; the child that is backward must be helped; the delinquent child must be reclaimed; and the orphan and the waif must be sheltered and succored;
  • The child must be the first to receive relief in times of distress
  • The child must be put in a position to earn a livelihood, and must be protected against every form of exploitation
  • The child must be brought up in the consciousness that its talents must be devoted to the service of fellow men.

WHY BABY DUMPING???

The convention puts forward all the fundamental rights of a child which should be internationally recognised, on the other hand, I am of the opinion that the sole factors responsible for the growth of orphanage homes and messy dumping of children on the streets is majorly due to two core reasons, they are:
                       MUNICIPAL LAWS OF INDEPENDENT STATES
                       ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS.

MUNICIPAL LAWS OF INDEPENDENT STATES: Based on several researches that I have carried out on especially the African countries, most cases of child dumps are linked to the beliefs, customs, traditions and perceptions of the people. when a person gets an unwanted pregnancy, before or after marriage, this tags such a person a menace in the African society leaving such individual with few narrow options like abortion, child dumping or child sale. I am not applauding pre-marital or extra marital unwanted pregnancies, but when they have become realities, facts should be realised that it cannot be changed and situations should not be taken out of nominal handling of the same. According to the Part 1, Article 2 of the Geneva Convention on the Rights of a Child, it states that : 
1. States Parties shall respect and ensure the rights set forth in the present Convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child's or his or her parent's or legal guardian's race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status.

2. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of the child's parents, legal guardians, or family members.

Based on the above laid down regulations, if independent states make laws to uplift the tag unwanted pregnancies come with from parents, relatives and friends, the high rate of children in orphanage homes will drop to below zero. Children are beautiful and should be seen as symbols of love shared. if the law do not protect their birth and raising, there lies no hope for better living. Nothing should be a barrier to keeping a child once its been born. The research carried out also revealed that the reason for this dumping is not relating to financial difficulties but fear of what the society holds. The psychology needs to be changed and not just the laws.

The origin of most of International Organisations looking out for Children is due to Famine, effects of war like in the Osaka Child Abandonment Case, Sugamo Child Abandonment Case, but now, its fear, protection of status, anonymity, societal ridicule and what have you. One of the latest cases of child dumping occurred on July 13th in Katlehong Bridge where a Baby thought to be 2 to 3 days old was found dumped under a bridge in Silumaview in Katlehong on Monday. In Nigeria, a woman dumped a day old baby by the road side. See this on Punch Newspaper Online. Thus, based on these, it is clear that there is an existing relationship between internal stand of a country and its orphanage homes. The Government and its laws have a great role to play to either cut this down or take it to the next menace level.

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW: The security system of a country internally, covering all scopes like health, drainage, garbage, military spheres thoroughly affects its height in this ravaging menace of child dumping and orphanage growth. there are several laws relating to illegal dumping of refuse and same sort  but this should be extended to child dumping. Proper organisation of these would not only reduce the child dumping activities, but will also ensure quick catch-up of the culprit. There would be no hiding place to commit such act. security alertness comes into the picture.

Both strongholds work hand in hand to advance this fast growing trend and should be cut down in no time. The law plays a major role!!!

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