NPOs celebrate boost for rights
Submissions made regarding children’s commissioner
MOLO Songololo and 40 other child and human rights protection organisations celebrated moving one step closer to ensuring that a children’s commissioner is appointed in the province.
Forty-one non-profit organisations working for the protection of children across the Western Cape all participated in the writing-up of new submissions that they want provincial legislators to consider when reviewing the appointment of the commissioner.
The draft Bill officially became an Act in February.
The submissions made include the comments of children, to ensure that their voices are heard in the process. There is also an urgent request for a Western Cape children’s commissioner to be appointed.
The commissioner will work independently of the government and will further protect the rights and interests of children, including health services, education, welfare services, recreation and sport. They will also monitor and investigate all matters relating to children, as stated in section 78 and 79 of the Western Cape constitution.
“We wanted an independent commissioner and separate mandate that will remain child-focused,” said the director of Molo Songololo, Patric Solomons.
There have been numerous attempts by the organisations to get the draft Bill to Parliament, and they celebrated a small victory on Friday over the new Bill that will be introduced to the public later this month. “Our first step was bringing the organisations together, who were part of influencing the Act through written and oral submissions.
“We have also decided to bring more organisations together during child protection week, to review the new act and the process from here onwards,” said Solomons.
“The regulations of the act still need to be developed and written. Our duty now is find out who will be writing up the regulations in Parliament, the role of the public in shaping the regulations, the appointing of a commissioner and what the timeline will be, for the finalising of the regulations and the implementation of the Act,” he said.
“The Western Cape will be the first province in South Africa to have a child commissioner, and we hope that once the new law is implemented, this will also spread to the other provinces,” said the executive director for the trauma centre for survivors of violence and torture, Valdi van Reenen le Roux.
The Western Cape will be the first province to have a child commissioner
Valdi van Reenen le Roux
CENTRE FOR SURVIVORS OF VIOLENCE