HARARE – President Mnangagwa will open the 29th session of the Junior Parliament at State House today.
The event was initially scheduled to be held on June 19 but was postponed due to lockdown measures instituted to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Zimbabwe Youth Council director Mr Brian Nyagwande said all was set for the official opening.
“The preparations for the event have gone on well despite the challenges we faced earlier this year,” he said.
“The junior parliamentarians are finalising the selection of the junior president as we speak. His Excellency, the President will be the guest of honour.”
Mr Nyagwande said the junior MPs were expected to discuss issues affecting young people.
These include drug and alcohol abuse, HIV and Aids, and child marriages.
The Junior Parliament has been a key method for ensuring that children have a voice in the decisions that affect them, one of the basic rights guaranteed children in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
This right to participation is as important as the rights to education and to health.
The event has also become a forum for taking stock of whether the country is living up to its obligations under the Convention, as well as the Africa Youth Charter and the Africa Charter on the rights and welfare of the child.
The Junior Parliament operates as a mirror of the real Parliament which entails that each and every constituency in the country has a child parliamentarian representative.
Since its inception the Children’s Parliament has been able to bring to the fore, the challenges that Zimbabwean children face and present them for the attention of the Government and other stakeholders.
As a result of the Junior Parliament, several projects have been founded, clubs have been formed and several initiatives born in an effort to tackle issues that affect children.
