The Day of the African Child was established by the then Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1991 in memory of the Soweto Uprising in South Africa, when students marched in protest against the poor quality of education they received under apartheid and demanded to be taught in their own languages, on 16 June 1976. The OAU and its successor, the African Union, have since used the DAC to celebrate children in Africa and to inspire reflection and action on addressing the challenges that African children face today.
This year’s theme is '25 Years after the Adoption of the African Children’s Charter: Accelerating our Collective Efforts to End Child Marriage in Africa'. The call to action is to accelerate efforts to end child marriage.
