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Media Statement: Think Tank Committee on Children’s Rights Meets to Strengthen Children’s Rights
16 June 2021
ATT: Editors and Reporters
Today, the 16th of June, in addition to it being Youth Day, it is also the Day of the African Child. It is a sign of global recognition of the role that children played in Soweto in 1976 in changing the course of South Africa’s history at great cost to many of our children. Therefore, this day has been marked annually by the African Union as the Day of the African Child so as to remind us that children are at the center of our society and that children’s rights are human rights.
ATT: Editors and Reporters
Today, the 16th of June, in addition to it being Youth Day, it is also the Day of the African Child. It is a sign of global recognition of the role that children played in Soweto in 1976 in changing the course of South Africa’s history at great cost to many of our children. Therefore, this day has been marked annually by the African Union as the Day of the African Child so as to remind us that children are at the center of our society and that children’s rights are human rights.
The theme of this year’s Day of the African Child, 30 years after the adoption of the Charter, is ‘Accelerating implementation of Africa’s Agenda for Children 2040 through effective child rights governance’.
South Africa has endorsed Africa’s Agenda 2063 and Africa’s Agenda for Children 2040. In so doing, the country has committed, along with the rest of Africa, to direct its collective resources to eradicate poverty and inequality from the bottom up. We have committed to build our human capital foundations through the equalization and realisation of the rights of all children, particularly the most marginalised, not just to survive, but be protected, develop to their full potential and participate in all decisions that affect them.
However, the impact of COVID and the consequent lockdown on the well-being of children has left many children and youth in a state of anxiety, mental distress and more children have reported hunger, malnutrition, an interrupted learning journey, witnessing violence and experiencing abuse.
On the 15th of June, SAHRC in partnership with the Think Tank Committee, hosted a roundtable discussion to assess the impact of Covid19 on children. One of the overarching theme noted in all the presentations was the importance of resources being allocated for children’s rights. It is important to interrogate budget made available to enhance children’s rights to ensure children’s rights are prioritized, in addition it is trite that Institutions monitor the implementation of these budget.
For us to equalize and realise children and their rights to develop to their full potential, it will be important to renew our commitments to strengthening the monitoring of the situation of children’s rights and our child rights governance systems in South Africa for collective action towards meeting children’s rights.’
This Message is supported by the South African Human Rights Commission together with the Think Tank Committee on Children’s Rights which include:
Save the Children South Africa
The Graça Machel Trust
Western Cape Commissioner for Children
Give a Child a Family Africa
Child Law Centre
Child Institute
Teddy Bear Foundation
UNICEF
Tiger Brands Foundation
Commission for Gender Equality
Strategic Analytics
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The Human Rights Commission is the national institution established to support constitutional democracy. It is committed to promote respect for, observance of and protection of human rights for everyone without fear or favour.
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