Christian children’s charity Viva is appealing to the Ugandan government to do more to ensure the safety of the nation’s children.

It wants the government to take action and make “rapid progress” in delivering the Millennium Development Goals in order to keep children safe.

The MDGs are a set of eight international development goals agreed by world leaders in 2000. They include eradicating poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, reducing the child mortality rate, and combating HIV/AIDS and malaria.

Earlier this week, a delegation of representatives from World Vision, Compassion, Viva and two of the children cared for by its Kampala-wide network, CRANE, delivered a petition to the Speaker of the Ugandan parliament, Edward Ssekandi.

The petition contains the signatures of 4,000 Ugandan adults who promised to put children first, keep them safe, and remind community and government leaders to honour their commitments to the poor.

During their meeting with Ssekandi, the delegation raised their concerns about the safety of Uganda’s children and government action on the MDGs.

Viva called on the Ugandan government to increase its health care spending by 5.2%, particularly on provisions for child and maternal health, and speed up improvements to primary education and the Probation and Social Welfare Department.

Ssekandi committed to raising the issues in Parliament.

“Children make up 56% of Ugandan society, so they need to be a priority on the governmental agenda,” said Beth Gaukroger, of Viva.

“It was important that children were a part of this delegation, reinforcing Viva’s commitment to put children first.

“It also clearly had an impact on Ssekandi, who was surprised and impressed by the children’s involvement and very encouraged by the 4,000 signatures they handed him.”