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Children's
Bill Parliamentary Hearings
By Paula Proudlock,
Child Rights Programme |
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After years of discussion and debate, thirty children’s sector
organisations arrived at Parliament for three days in August to make
oral submissions on the Children’s Bill to the Portfolio Committee
on Social Development. From the responses of the members of
Parliament (MPs) and government officials, it was clear that they
were shocked to hear of the many challenges facing children and
organisations that provide services to children.
Civil society organisations with essential information and knowledge
are often prevented from writing and making submissions to
Parliament due to a lack of resources to participate in law-making
processes. It was therefore an empowering experience for the
organisations’ representatives, most of whom had never visited
Parliament before, to be able to prepare submissions and visit Cape
Town to present their views to Parliament. With funding from the
Open Society Foundation of South Africa, and the active involvement
and hard work of all the major children’s sector umbrella bodies,
the Children’s Institute was able to assist organisations to prepare
their submissions to Parliament.
The submissions
Submissions from two groups of children, the Institute’s Dikwankwetla group and a Molo Songololo group, made a noticeable
impact on the MPs. When being questioned on the real impact of the
many laws that Parliament has passed, the children’s answers clearly
demonstrated to the MPs that there is a looming gap between laws and
their implementation.
Submissions by the Early Childhood Development (ECD) sector showed
how a lack of co-ordination between government departments manifests
in a lack of delivery to children. Qhamani Educare, a crèche from an
informal settlement in the Western Cape, told the MPs how they
struggle to access government support and subsidies to provide the
children in their care with food and ECD programmes. These problems
were echoed in the joint submission by the South African Congress
for Early Childhood Development and the Early Learning Resource
Unit, which showed that the majority of crèches across the country
experience the same problems.
An urgent need for a national policy framework to ensure better
co-ordination of planning, budgeting and service delivery for
children were emphasised by submissions outlining the broader policy
picture. These were made by organisations such as the South African
Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (SASPCAN),
Childline, the Children’s Institute, and the HIV-sector submissions.
Furthermore, the Community Law Centre submission on courts and the
SASPCAN submission on the formal child protection system stressed
the need for the system of social workers and courts to be co-ordinated
and adequately resourced to prevent the secondary traumatisation of
children in the system.
Reminding the Portfolio Committee of its constitutional obligations
to children, the Children’s Institute in its submission argued that
the chapter on children’s rights should contain a comprehensive list
of rights. Also taking a rights-based approach, the Community Law
Centre’s submission advocated for a ban on corporal punishment in
the home in line with international law and constitutional
obligations to children.
The need for poverty alleviation, early intervention and support for
families to care for their children was stressed by submissions from
the Alliance for Children’s Entitlement to Social Security,
Johannesburg Child Welfare Society, Resources Aimed at the
Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, the Network Against Child
Labour and the HIV-sector. The submissions clearly demonstrated the
urgent need for policy decisions and committed resourcing to address
the increasing strain experienced by children and families due to
the rising levels of poverty, unemployment and HIV-infection. All
submissions called for the social security chapter to be
re-introduced into the Bill, and for adequate funding of
non-governmental organisations and government departments
responsible for delivering children’s social services.
Focused submissions from the National Alliance for Street Children,
the National Association of Child Care Workers, the AIDS Law
Project, Lawyers for Human Rights and the Disabled Children’s Action
Group provided overviews of the problems facing children who live in
especially difficult circumstances.
The way forward
After the hearings, the MPs and the Inter-departmental Executive
Steering Committee started the deliberation process, which greatly
focused on the original proposal for a national policy framework to
improve co-ordination between government departments and the
different levels of government and civil society. While much
information and discussion is still needed before Parliament can
take a decision on the final version of the Bill, it is important
that the Executive Steering Committee supports Parliament by
presenting it with clear policy positions and the detailed
information to enable well-informed decisions.
The first part of the Bill (section 75) will likely only be passed
by the middle of 2005, while the second part of the Bill will
probably follow later next year. While there is a long road ahead,
it is imperative that Parliament, the Executive, Treasury and civil
society work together to ensure the delivery of co-ordinated
services to children for generations to come through a comprehensive
and progressive Children’s Bill.
Click here to view the different submissions on the Children’s Bill.
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