Community Law Centre highlights the plight of children on the continent

The Director of the Community Law Centre, Prof Jaap de Visser, presented a statement at the Opening Ceremony of the 22nd Session of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC).

It calls upon ACERWC to prioritise the issue of violence against children not only in South Africa but in other African countries. The centre urges the African Union to provide the African Committee of Experts with adequate resources to enable it undertake the much-needed country missions by Committee Members to engage with national officials responsible for the protection and promotion of children’s rights to mutually identify ways of addressing challenges faced.

The centre calls upon the Committee to urge the Government of South Africa – which has committed to submitting its combined Initial and Periodic Report to the Committee soon – to take urgent measures to curb the spate of violent acts against children. Community Law Centre consequently requests that the Focal Point of the Committee on violence against children, undertake a country mission to South Africa to interact with national authorities on this menace and find workable and long-lasting solutions to this problem of violence.

Read the statement HERE.