Orphaned & Children (OVCs)

he HIV/AIDS epidemic is shattering children’s lives and reversing many hard won children’s rights gains. Following more than a decade of inadequate action, there is now an absolute imperative that the global community and every individual nation urgently mount large-scale, multifaceted responses to secure the future of all orphans and vulnerable children (OVC).
Within the extended family, children orphaned by HIV/AIDS tell of being expected to work harder than other children in the family and of being the last to get food or school fees. Within the community, they are socially ostracized and marginalized, by adults as well as by other children. Discrimination at schools, in health services, and in other institutions compromises their rights and frequently limits
their access to opportunities and benefits.
We recognize the need to raise awareness, mobilize responses (at different levels), and then strengthen those responses within an enabling legal, policy, and programmatic framework.
We believe in a society that takes care of its vulnerable members, in a world where children do not suffer from hunger, abuse, cold, illness, or hardship. We believe that all children should be able to benefit from a comprehensive social security system. The system must ensure children’s survival and a standard of living adequate for their development. Furthermore, it must create an environment that enables all children to enjoy their constitutional rights, especially the rights to equality, dignity, health, education, participation, and protection from abuse and neglect