SA’s African Charter report on the Rights Child examined
The meeting comes after a 13-year delay, the Initial Country Report on the Rights and Welfare ACERWC by a delegation from the government of South Africa (GOSA) on 9th October 2014. Dr Maria Assim, researcher at Community Law Centre, was part of the delegation which attended the meeting on behalf of South African civil society.
Other issues that were identified are coordination and the sitting within government of children’s issues, the age of criminal capacity, the attitude towards certain cultural practices, access to identity documents, particularly for foreign children, and support to NGOs delivering services to children —services which government is constitutionally mandated to deliver.
The civil society organisations involved in preparing the Alternate Report urge the government to honour its commitment, stated in the concluding remarks of the co-leader of the delegation, Deputy Minister Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, to engage seriously with the Concluding Observations of the African Committee once these are received, and to pay particular attention to preventing and addressing the high levels of physical and sexual violence which South African children experience.
There was a large GOSA delegation, with senior officials from the Departments of Social Development, Health, Basic Education, Justice and Constitutional Development and SAPS, which was led by Deputy Minister of Social Development Hendrietta Bogopane Zulu and Deputy Minister of Police, Makhotso Maggie Sotyu. In addition, the head of the South African Mission to the AU was in attendance, along with 3 children, 1 in grade 7 and two in Grade 11. The Department of Home Affairs was a conspicuous absentee.