Cape Town - A local delegation faced tough questions this week over the country’s policies and programmes to protect and promote children’s rights from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva, Switzerland.
Some of the most glaring omissions that the delegation was not able to address was the failure of the country to meet its commitments in terms of the UN Millennium Development Goals, specifically that almost half of HIV-infected children receive antiretrovirals, that immunisation programmes for infants are less than optimal or that a significant number of South African children are malnourished or suffer from stunted growth.
The delegation was led by Deputy Minister of Social Development Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu.
Among the entities that criticised the government’s official performance is the Alternate Report Coalition-Children’s Rights South Africa, a civil society alliance comprising 11 leading organisations on children’s rights.
In its assessment of how the government had fared in Geneva, it noted that “the delegation mostly referred to piece-meal initiatives and avoided addressing whether the government’s efforts are dealing with the deeper structural issues or what the impact has been of these initiatives”.
Sam Waterhouse, of the Dullah Omar Institute at the University of the Western Cape, said: “For example, on this issue of violence against children, the government highlighted the fact that there is a call centre for children. But this doesn't really tell us anything about whether the systems are working.
“The government did not talk about the Child Death Review Pilot Project or its findings that children are dying due to a failing system, and what they plan to do to reduce the number of children dying as a result of abuse.”
The delegation was forced to concede to the committee that the government is struggling in gathering and analysing data on the realities facing children in South Africa, which has knock-on effects for evidence-based planning, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation of programmes and measures to address those realities.
This, experts claim, is part of the problem.
Haroon Saloojee, the director of community paediatrics at Wits University, said even the government’s reportage, for instance on statistics related to violence against children and other critical aspects related to the health and welfare of children, did not reflect the reality on the ground. “It is interesting to note what informs government reporting, because the government statistics don’t appear in any literature which is evidence-based.
“The Department of Social Development does not have the ability to lead or to deal effectively with children’s rights, and this shows that we need an agency that is able to extract accountability from other departments.”
He said although South Africa had excellent policies, “it’s the ability to implement where the competencies are missing”. Children’s rights in this society, he stated, should be paramount, “that is why we need a properly resourced and empowered agency located directly under the Presidency”.
Weekend Argus