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Report-back
from NPA workshop held at African Window, Pretoria, 19 October 1999
The workshop was
attended by about 120 delegates who work with children’s issues.
All the provinces were fairly represented. The meeting was chaired by Magor. After the initial pleasantries, she asked the delegates to
give their expectations from the workshop.
These are just some of
the expectations given:
 |
To develop a shared vision for child protective measures in
our country. |
|
To examine possibilities of training for people working in
this ‘specialist field’. |
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To examine/discuss children participation in ensuring their
own safety, in these workshops. |
Ms Thoko
Mkhwanazi-Xaluva the co-chair of NPA, gave an overview of NPA, and this is what
she had to say:
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The NPA was established by NGOs spear-headed by the NCRC,
in 1994. |
|
It was handed to the Government in 1996, with the intention
of integrating it into Government Policy. |
|
It resided in the Department of Health till in 1998, when
it was moved to the deputy-President’s office which is now the
President’s office. This was
done because “children needed to be prioritised” and the process needed
to be monitored. |
|
During an evaluation process in 1998, the issue of
exclusivity of the NPA, was raised. There
was a need to broaden representation to civil society and this workshop was
a first of such meetings. |
These
are some of the objectives of the NPA:
|
To promote the CRC within the broader framework of human
rights culture. |
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To raise awareness and consciousness on the public about
CR. |
The NPA has identified
the following priority areas in the next 5 years:
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Infrastructure |
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Special protective measures |
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Education |
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Early childhood development |
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Nutrition |
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Leisure and recreation |
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Peace and non-violence |
Structure
This workshop focused
on Special Protective Measures and for expediency collapsed the 10 priority
groups identified to 4 and also added others.
The following are the priority area groups:
-
Disability
and HIV
-
Child
Abuse which included the following areas – exploitation, child labour,
pornography, child abandonment, trafficking, substance abuse.
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Poverty,
Street Children and social security.
-
Children
in conflict with the law
The attendees then
broke into these 4 sub-reference groups and were given the following issues to
discuss:
-
Development
of terms of reference
-
Roles
and responsibilities of a sub-reference
groups
-
Composition
of the sub-reference group
-
Reporting
structures to the sub-reference group
-
Priority
issues for the sub-reference group
The following report
pertains only to the child abuse group:
The
following are just some of the existing structures identified by this group:
National Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect (NCCAN)
|
SASPCAN |
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Emerging ECPAT |
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SA Human Rights Commission |
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Gender Commission |
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DICAG |
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Provincial NGOs |
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Medically-oriented child abuse centres, etc |
Some
of the gaps identified:
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Poor communication and co-ordination of services |
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Lack of minimum standards |
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SASPCAN
