As the world celebrates Children’s Day, European Union has vowed to continue protecting and promotion of rights of all children everywhere.

According to universal declaration of human rights, every single child has the right to grow up in a safe and nurturing environment, free from any form of violence, abuse, harassment or neglect.

“It is our collective task to do everything we can to ensure that these rights are respected and ensured for every child. We invest to make sure that children receive nutrition, health-care and education, and to tackle child labour,”

Through Europe 2020 Strategy, the European Social Fund, and European Pillar of Social Rights, EU is stepping up efforts to prevent child poverty and social exclusion. In this digital age, EU is at the fore front to create a safe, empowering, child-friendly environment in the digital sphere where minors are protected from unlawful processing of their personal data and from harmful audio-visual content online.

“We work with our partners to provide access to psychological support and trauma treatment, helping to protect and reintegrate children who were associated with armed forces and groups around the world. We are helping partner countries to strengthen juvenile justice systems, in line with international standards to protect children and minors,” notes in the press statement.

In combating trafficking in human beings, children also remain at the core of the EU agenda and their ultimate goal remains to prevent and ultimately fully eradicating this crime, including by countering the culture of impunity for actors involved in the trafficking chain.

European commission is convinced that investing in children throughout their journey to adulthood is first and foremost a moral duty towards them, “it is essential investment in a better future for all of us. On this day, therefore, we reaffirm our commitment to redouble our efforts and also call upon all partners worldwide to help work towards the day that no child is left behind,”

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A group of young Somali leaders have benefitted from an intensive five-day leadership skills development course, aimed at improving their competencies in leadership.

The course, held at the National Farmers Leadership Centre in Mpigi district, in Uganda, familiarized the participants who are members of the Somali National Commission on Mobilization and Sensitization – a statutory agency mandated to mobilize Somali publics to support state programmes and institutions – with the principle aspects of leadership, needed to carry out their duties.

“Somalia requires mobilization for various reasons. It is a country with several internal conflicts, there are several internal conflicts, the relations between the government and the people is characterized by mistrust,” explained the co-convener of the training workshop and AMISOM’s Senior Political Affairs Officer, Hajji Ssebirumbi.

Over the five-day course participants interacted with various leaders, among them the Jacob Oulanyah, the Deputy Speaker of Ugandan Parliament, who delivered a lecture on post-conflict management and reconciliation. Speaker Oulanyah advised the Somali leaders to draw lessons from Uganda’s turbulent past, to enable them achieve their goals. The training was a follow-up to a leadership skills development workshop, held in Mogadishu in August 2018.

“It provided a deeper and broader understanding of the young Somali leaders, of the process of nation building especially in a post-conflict context like Somalia,” noted the chief facilitator Paul Odauk, who added that Uganda bore uniquely similar experiences with Somalia, due to the extended period of conflict both countries experienced, and the process of post conflict reconstruction, reconciliation and re-stabilization.

The training of members of the National Commission on Mobilization and Sensitization, is in line with the AU Mission’s Transition Plan, which emphasizes capacity building of institutions of the Federal Government of Somalia, and is expected to help the officers build rapport with local Somali communities, as they embark on activities to promote reconciliation. Additionally, the training was aimed at equipping the commission’s members with skills to effectively carry out the agency’s mandate, as it supports the objectives of the government.

The deputy Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (DSRCC) for Somalia, Simon Mulongo, addressed the participants during the course of the training. He welcomed the objectives of the workshop, saying it would enhance efforts to stabilize and reconstruct Somalia. “Even if we have completed a number of key areas militarily, in terms of capturing and degrading Al-shabaab, there are still critical important elements, particularly political ones, to be able to anchor the achievements made so far,” Mulongo stated.

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Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) expects unveil its new head office building located in the current premises where the Authority is headquartered in Nakawa Division, Kampala District.

The construction of Shs140 billion building commenced in August 2014. The contractor had expected to complete it by August 2018 but there were some delays. The contractor- Kiru General Services Limited, a local company are on their final torches. The project is funded by the government of Uganda.

The 22-storeyed building structure is one of the tallest building in the city and will house all offices of the revenue body and is expected to save over Shs10 billion that is annually spent on rent.

The house will also provide a one-stop-center for all URA services while cutting down on revenue administration costs.

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