Following the change that has occurred at the top of the State since August 30, the National Network for the Promotion of Children's Rights in Gabon (RESPEG) gave its voice, on October 19, during a press point held at the headquarters of the NGO Arc-en-ciel, to defend the rights of the child, its workhorse.

Speaking on behalf of Chakir Omer Paraiso, president of the NGO Manibus and General Coordinator of RESPEG, Franchelle Bijou Boutamba did not fail to congratulate and thank the CTRI for all the actions undertaken in favor of children, since the service oath of Brigadier General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema as Head of State (reestablishment of the scholarship for secondary students, distribution of school textbooks, free registration fees, restoration of the scholarship for secondary students).

However, she noted that Gabon, although a State party to numerous regional and international tools for defending the rights of the child and having a framework

robust national normative materialized by the Children's Code, is far from being a model in terms of protection of children who are "always victims of abuse and violence of all kinds such as sexual violence, domestic violence , violence in schools, trafficking, exploitation, harassment.” Without forgetting the kidnappings and sacrificial crimes (case of Rinaldi who has disappeared since January 12, 2020 and whose investigation has still not delivered its conclusions)

While the rights of children are violated in the Gabonese Republic by state actors, child protection institutions, adults providing tutoring, and families, RESPEG notes, to regret them, numerous breaches in child protection. children, in particular the impunity enjoyed by the majority of perpetrators of violations of children's rights, due to the corruption of certain actors, although sworn in, and the cowardice of certain others, the absence of leisure facilities for children throughout the territory, the impossibility of early detection of disabilities in children, due to lack of adequate equipment and specialists, the lack of specialized schools for the education of blind children, the lack of specialized care structures children living with severe disabilities (BMI, Down syndrome, autism) across the entire territory, etc.

Also, because it constitutes the first circle of protection of the child and the formation of his personality, the family must figure, according to RESPEG, in a good place among the institutions to be restored. A restoration which involves the reestablishment of family values and the granting of sufficient means to families to effectively support them in the education of their children, and to which this member organization of the Network of Children's Rights in Central Africa (REDEAC ) says it is ready to contribute at each stage, with the ambition, for Gabon, of achieving:

- zero child victims of the crime of kidnapping and sacrificial crimes;

- zero children in street situations and in conflict with the law;

- zero imprisoned children;

- zero child victims of trafficking and exploitation;

- zero children victims of sexual, physical, economic and

harassment ;

- zero children abandoned by families due to lack of means to raise them;

- zero out-of-school children, disabled or non-disabled;

- zero children without a birth certificate;

- zero children who leave school without a diploma due to families' financial difficulties.

Fidèle AFANOU EDEMBE