INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

·  who headed your delegation at the World Summit for Children in 1990?

·  What immediate follow-up actions were taken? Was an NPA prepared – if so when and how?

·  What mechanisms were established for periodic reviews of progress?

·  Was there a mid-decade review – if so, what were its principal finds and how were they used?

With the end of apartheid, South Africa became a democracy in 1994. When the World Summit for Children took place in 1990, South Africa was deep within the throes of the liberation movement; in fact that year, over 200 NGOs, along with UNICEF, met in Botswana as a response to the worsening conditions for women and children in South Africa. From the Botswana conference, came the National Children’s Rights Committee, an umbrella organisation advocating for the rights of children. After the first democratic elections, on June 16th, 1994, former President Nelson Mandela committed the country to the NPA framework. And one year later, in 1995, South Africa ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In 1997, South Africa submitted the initial country report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Three years later, a supplementary report was submitted, and in January 2000, the country delegation made an oral presentation to the UN Committee and dialogued around issues of children’s rights in South Africa. South Africa has also ratified the OAU African Charter on the Rights and Responsibilities of the Child.

·  Have reports been submitted under Article 44 of the CRC? If so, which issues were highlighted in the report and /or by the Committee on the Rights of the Child? When concluding observations have been issued by the Committee, please summarise.

The UN Committee during the 23rd Session welcomed the submission from South Africa. The Committee made a number of recommendations, and also noted a number of positive developments. These included the new Constitution, in particular Article 28, new legislation (such as the National Youth Amendment Act and the Abolition of Corporal Punishment Act) that have been enacted, and the implementation of the NPA.

The Committee acknowledged the challenges faced by the SA government in light of the legacy of apartheid, and encouraged South Africa to continue to work for full implementation of the CRC. Specific recommendations were made for each issue area. Recommendations included: expanding child support grant programmes to include children up to the age of 18 years, raise awareness on the negative effects of corporal punishment, increase access to safe drinking water, increase efforts to facilitate sustainable development programmes to prevent environmental degradation, and strengthen law enforcement regarding the sale, trafficking and abduction of children, to name a few. (See Appendix 6 for full Recommendations.

A.  Process Established for the End-decade Review (EDR)

·  How was the review organised?

·  Were there sub-national reviews?

·  Describe the principal studies, surveys, policy discussions or public debates that were used to inform the review?

South Africa did not opt for a MICS as it was felt that the information at hand was sufficient for the completion of the EDR report. The End-decade Review process was spearheaded by the Data Collection and Monitoring Task Group, a project group of the NPA. The Monitoring Task Group is chaired by Statistics South Africa. Unicef provided technical support for the process. A data base on ChildInfo has been installed at StatsSA and will be used as the main data base for child related indicators in the future.

The main sources for updating the end-decade goal indicators were the South Africa Demographic and Health Survey of 1998, the National Food Consumption Survey (1999), Statistics South Africa October Household Surveys , Statistics South Africa Census Data (1996), Central Statistical Survey (1997), National HIV Sero-Prevalence Survey of women Attending Public Antenatal Clinics in South Africa (1999), Education for All Report (2000) and a number of other departmental reports. An important source for the qualitative analysis is the Report on the State of the Nation’s Children (draft). This Report will be launched early in 2001. It is a comprehensive overview of children in South Africa. After the launch of this milestone report, it will be an annual report that is updated and distributed.

For detailed data, see:

·  National Statistics – Appendix 1

·  Urban and Rural Breakdown – Appendix 2

·  Gender and Population Group – Appendix 3

·  Provincial Breakdown – Appendix 4

·  Technical Notes – Appendix 5

What roles were played by civil society organization and other actors, including children?

Workshops held in six provinces complemented the EDR process. The workshops to a large extent validated information available at national level on the priority problems of children and women within the specific conditions of each province. NGOs and civil society were actively involved in the whole process through the NPA Steering Committee, as well as through Provincial Programmes of Action.

How were findings reached and disseminated?

The State of the Nation’s Children Report and the EDR will be widely disseminated – to child rights groups, relevant NGOs and other who engage in children’s and women’s issues. It is foreseen that a popular version will be produced and more widely disseminated to civil society, including children.

B.  Action at the National and International Levels

·  Describe actions taken under paragraphs 34 and 35 of the World Summit Plan of Action and briefly assess their impact.

In 1994, the South African government committed itself to the “first call” for children when an NPA outline was endorsed. Two years later the NPA was formally launched and since then it has continued to grow and expand. In order to fully mainstream children’s issues, the NPA co-ordination moved from the Department of Health to the Office of the then Deputy President (T. Mbeki) in 1998. After the national elections in 1999, the NPA secretariat moved to the Presidency. Provincial programmes of Action have been established in all nine provinces, and in some areas, Local Programmes of Action exist.

The South African Constitution establishes that a child’s best interests are of paramount importance to the State. In order to effectively monitor the development of children, and to promote and protect children’s rights, the Office on the Rights of the Child (ORC) was established. The ORC is based in the Presidency. The ORC is tasked with advising the Presidency on children’s issues. But its mandate is much broader than that. The ORC is the secretariat of the NPA. Within that context the ORC is actively involved in a national advocacy campaign on child rights; works with public and community media to promote issues of children; reviews legislative policies that impact on children; disseminates child rights materials, including the CRC; liases with local governments, community-based organisations and NGOs; engages with international agencies working on children’s issues; dialogues regularly with all government departments to ensure that children’s issues are effectively mainstreamed; and monitors progress made around children’s development.

C.  Specific Actions for Child Survival, Protection and Development

·  Provide brief assessments of progress achieved, major constraints faced and lessons learnt with respect to each of the following ten Specific Actions for Implementing the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children in the 1990s:

a) to disseminate and promote the earliest possible ratification of the CRC and thereafter to promote it’s implementation and monitoring

Communication, information and dissemination is a key project group of the NPA. Information on the CRC and child rights broadly is disseminated though a number of means and media. Live community radio call-in shows have been aired nationally, highlighting issues such as youth and AIDS and corporal punishment; public television and radio have been used to convey information on a number of issues; newspapers and print media have been targeted and a number of child rights special issues – including child abuse – have been published; a photography exhibition documenting the lives of children is currently travelling throughout the country; educational comic strips have been developed and published and speak directly to children.

The SA country report to the UN was widely disseminated through NPA mechanisms and NGOs. During Children’s Day (the first Saturday of November) thousands of “First Call” booklets, and other NPA material (in a number of languages) was distributed. Government departments, the SA Human Rights Commission and NGOs also distributed materials to thousands of children on this day. Public holidays – such as Human Rights Day, Youth Day, and the 16 Days of Activism on No Violence against Women and Children – are also used as an opportunity to distribute information and use the media to focus on issues of women and children’s rights.

b) to combat childhood diseases through low-cost remedies and by strengthening primary health care and basic health services; to prioritise the prevention and treatment of AIDS; to provide universal access to safe drinking water and sanitary excreta disposal and to control water-borne diseases;

Primary and basic health care services are free for pregnant mothers and children under the age of 6 years. The move to greater decentralisation in health service delivery under the district health system approach will increase access for women and children to primary health-care services. The Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) has been introduced to address principal causes of childhood illnesses and death at primary health-care facilities, in the family and in the community. Components of this strategy aim to improve the health care system supporting primary care facilities as well as key practices. HIV/AIDS is part of the IMCI strategy. According to the 1998 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), infant mortality rates are 45 per 1000, with differences in the rate for urban (33) and non-urban (52) sections of the population. Under-5 Mortality is 59,4 per 1000, and has an upward trend, probably due to rates of HIV/AIDS. Obstetric practices and child-feeding options have been modified to reduce mother-to-child transmission.

The Expanded Programme on Immunisation has been introduced in order to immunise children against serious childhood infections. The EPI has succeeded in reducing both polio and measles to close on elimination. It includes vaccination against Hepatitis B and haemophilis infection, such as meningitis. The DHS shows that of children aged 12-23 months, 63 per cent were fully immunised, with only 2 per cent of children receiving no vaccination. Measles notifications have dropped from a rate of 20,6 per 100 000 in 1996 to 2,8 in 1997. Only 20 cases of neo-natal tetanus were reported in 1997, and there have been no polio cases since 1989. Intradermal BCG was introduced to further reduce morbidity and mortality from Tuberculosis.

South Africa is experiencing one of the most rapidly progressing HIV/AIDS epidemics. HIV/AIDS impacts on children in a variety of ways – infants born to HIV-positive mothers will be affected by HIV and some of them will be infected by HIV, adolescents (particularly girls) are extremely vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, caring for sick family members and ongoing economic activities fall increasingly to children, and children orphaned by AIDS face the trauma of bereavement, as well as poverty in many cases due to the loss of a breadwinner. The government’s response to the pandemic varies according to the way in which children are affected. HIV/AIDS strategies are cross-cutting and involve most government departments, including Health, Welfare and Education. The majority of infants born with HIV are unlikely to reach school-going age. Children aged 4-14 years are the largest group of uninfected members of any HIV-affected community, and are therefore a target for preventative education. HIV/AIDS education is one of the nine priorities highlighted by the Department of Education. A core learning programme has been developed for secondary schools. Preteens and young teenagers who are not yet sexually active are a particular focus of educational programmes. There is an HIV/AIDS national policy, whose main aim is to prevent discrimination against AIDS sufferers, increase awareness and decrease the spread of HIV. The policy allows for special measures with respect to learners who are HIV-positive.

In September 2000, the Department of Health announced a plan to increase the number of research and training sites offering comprehensive mother-to-child HIV prevention programmes, including neviropine administration in each province. In July 2000, the government released the HIV/AIDS and STD strategic plan for South Africa, 2000-2005. The plan outlines 15 goals in four priority areas including a special focus on youth. Particular objectives include: improved access to and use of male and female condoms, increased access to youth friendly reproductive health services and the implementation of programmes to support the health and social needs of children affected by HIV/AIDS. A youth sub-directorate within the HIV/AIDS/STD directorate has been established.

HIV-positive women are counselled with respect to the dangers of HIV transmission through breast-milk. Contraception is readily available to sexually active couples over the age of 14 years (children under 14 years require parental consent).

For children who are affected by HIV/AIDS the main goal of government is to address their basic needs for food, shelter, education, family or alternative care, and protection from abuse and malnutrition. The National Strategic Framework for Children Infected and Affected by HIV/AIDS is a four-level programme – prevention, early intervention, statutory process and continuum of care. There is no grant intended specifically for the care for children orphaned because of HIV/AIDS. But current grants which could be applied for include the foster care grant, the child support grant and care dependency grant.

With respect to access to water, by the end of 1999, more than 4,4 million people in rural areas gained access to improved quality of water. However, the legacy of apartheid has left great inequities with respect to access to water. According to Census 1996, most children aged 10-17 years use pit latrines as toilets. Many public buildings, such as schools, lack basic water services. A programme to identify rural communities that do not have access to potable water on site has been embarked upon. In 1999, over 60 projects were identified where water and sanitation have improved. The government is committed to increasing access to water and sanitation services. By the end of 1999, the government had spent R 3,37 billion on programmes for water provision.