Save the Children Speaks against the Custom payment in exchange of a female child

According to the Daily Post issue 4316, dated Tuesday November 4, 2014, Save the Children is aware of the murder of the Tannese woman by her boyfriend at Blacksands area in Port Vila and that the family members of the deceased demand a custom payment of a young female child from the man’s family.

This month Vanuatu recognized the 25th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) to which Vanuatu has been a signatory since 1992. Under the Convention the following articles state the various rights that children are entitled to and quoted below are some that apply directly to this situation:

• Article 3 states that whatever decisions that parents make concerning their children should be in the Best Interest of their Child.

• Article 9 & 18 state the child’s right to live with his/her parent and be brought up by their parent unless it is not good for him/her.

• Articles 12 states the rights of the child to give his/her views or opinion on the issues affecting them and adults have to listen and take seriously their concerns.

• Articles 19 states the right of the child to protection from being hurt and treated badly from all forms of abuses by anyone.

Therefore as those with a duty-of-care to children, we are all expected to respect and protect children from all forms of abuse, violence, maltreatment and exploitation. Working in and with communities throughout Vanuatu since 1985, Save the Children understands and appreciates the importance of ‘kastom’ in ni-Vanuatu culture. When the lives and rights of children are involved though, the adults and leaders of our communities must work together to find solutions to our ever-changing societal problems that act in the best interests of children. In this situation, there are no words to express the terrible grief and loss that the family of the deceased must be experiencing. But as an organisation, as individuals or as a society we cannot condone explicitly or through our silence, removing a child from their natural parents and family as a means of compensation for an illegal and unjustifiable act committed by an individual

Vanuatu’s ‘kastom’ history is long and one for which the nation and its citizens should be proud. But as stated in the article, a weakness of traditional custom reconciliation is that it often “sacrifices and ignores the concerns of the actual victim who is the person most affected by the crime”. In this case the transfer of a female child to replace the deceased woman would sacrifice that child’s rights as specified in the UNCRC, and create another victim out of an innocent child.

Save the Children is the World’s largest Organization independent child rights development organization. The organization works to make sure every child’s right to health, education and protection is realized in all levels including Community, Province and National level. All work implemented by Save the Children is underpinned by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.