Two University of Pretoria (UP) scholars from the Faculty of Law – Professor Ann Skelton, UNESCO chair: Education Law in Africa and Member: UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights; and Zita Hansungule, Senior Project Coordinator: Research, Monitoring and Evaluation, Centre for Child Law, UP – recently participated in an open parliamentary webinar that discussed the role of Parliament in building South Africa’s human capital foundations by increasing the number of children who develop to their full potential.

The webinar was part of a series of webinars and discussion groups emanating from the memorandum of understanding signed between Parliament (the Acting Secretary to Parliament) and UNICEF South Africa in August 2018, which formalised the areas of strategic collaboration. Strategic collaborations and knowledge-sharing initiatives are an important component of capacity-building for members and officials of Parliament, enhanced parliamentary oversight and deeper scrutiny by Committees, and this is one of the focus areas of the Knowledge Management Strategy.

“My presentation focused on assisting Parliament in understanding their own oversight role regarding children's rights and the synergies between that and the Committee on the Rights of the Child’s (CRC) oversight role,” said Prof Skelton. “I also pointed out that some of the CRC’s questions relate to the role of the legislature. In this regard, I emphasised that the South African government has not yet ratified the 3rd Optional Protocol to the CRC which permits children to bring complaints to the Committee. The accession to this document will need to be approved by Parliament.”

The purpose of the webinar was to understand Parliament’s current role, and how it may be strengthened to contribute to increasing the proportion of children who not only survive, but develop to their full potential to build South Africa’s human capital foundations.

UNICEF indicates that it is only when every child, especially the most marginalised, develops to their full potential that they will become active, engaged citizens who can eliminate the intergenerational poverty, inequality and exclusion that has become entrenched along race, geography, gender and disability lines, thus contributing to the slow progress of our social and economic growth and development.

South Africa has ratified several treaties and development agendas, which commit the country to realising the rights of every child, not just to survive, but to develop to their full potential as the foundation of sustainable, inclusive development. These have been domesticated through our Constitution and National Development Plan.

Achieving this outcome requires that all children, especially the most marginalised, receive the nurturing care required for their equal and optimal development. It requires that they receive age-appropriate combinations of healthcare, nutrition, responsive caregiving, protection from abuse and neglect and access to quality, inclusive education from birth and across their life cycle.

Government is responsible for enabling the required nurturing care through the provision of comprehensive, coordinated, multi-sectoral services and support to all parents, caregivers, and children, with special measures to equalise the opportunities of historically marginalised children.

Enabling nurturing care is a shared responsibility that depends on coordinated, strategic actioning of the country’s treaty and development implementation responsibilities by all organs of state, and all levels and branches of government.

Hansungule’s presentation focused on civil society's role in protecting children's rights and addressing challenges faced by children during a pandemic. “I highlighted the role that civil society plays as frontline responders and defenders of human rights through providing basic needs and services to children; strategic litigation, advocacy and awareness-raising on children's rights and wellbeing; and providing legal (and other) services remotely”.

She said it was important to highlight and help Parliament to understand the role of civil society in strengthening child rights governance and the synergies between the role of civil society as well as Parliament's role in this regard. “Also, it was an important platform as we played a role in building the parliamentarians' understanding of different role players' responsibilities to protect and affirm children's rights in South Africa; how Parliament's role intersects and also reiterating constitutional and international law obligations to protect children's rights.”