The National Children’s Day

By Dr Stanley Maphosa

The Government of South Africa declared the first Saturday of November as the National Children’s Day.

The National Children's Day  celebrates every child's rights to healthcare, protection and education. The day was initiated by the South African Government with the  aim of celebrating and highlighting the progress being made towards the realisation and promotion of the rights of children. By promoting children's rights, the hope is to achieve a South Africa where all children are free from abuse, neglect and exploitation.

Section 28 of South Africa's national constitution deals directly with the rights of children.This  section lays out basic rights that every child should be given from conception. These rights include giving a name to a child, registering a child to  have a nationality and giving the child a family or parental care (or alternative care if this is not possible).  Basic nutrition, shelter, health and social services are also some of the rights that children should enjoy.  Children should also be protected from all kinds of maltreatment  as well as exploitative labour. The Nelson Mandela Children's Fund is a home grown,  progressive  development and advocacy organisations with  27 years experience working with children  across the country in all the nine provinces. Working with  strategic partners mostly at national level and implementing partners at grassroots level,  the Fund  is moved by the vision of its founder to change the  way society treats its children and youth.  By and large, society has ignored the voices of children- seen then but not heard them, left children vulnerable to   abuse, neglect and exploitation in the name of  religion and culture. The number of children  dying before they reach the age of 5 is increasing  despite policies, practices and prevention measures that are easily available to many. The death of children is still not taken seriously by some communities. This must change. The National Children's Day therefore acts as a reminder that all children are protected under the constitution of SouthAfrica. Children are not  miniature human beings, they are human beings.  Their rights are human rights and should be protected like those of everyone else. Children 's issues should not be  forgotten in any plans of municipalities, Provincial and national government and their entities.  Private sector and  civil society organisations should also prioritize children.  Children should never be an after thought, tick box or tokenistic window dressers for events and activities.

On this National Children's Day, the Fund hosted the packaging event for food packs under the Isondlo child nutrition initiative. The initiative will reach 1000 00 chirdren through 19 implelenting partners. The Fund challenges public and private organisations to considers programs  that children and youth out of  poverty, inequality and unemployment  particular. With child poverty in particular addressed, child mortality,  child safety and all forms of discrimination will be dealt with.  Like what the  Nelson Mandela Children's Parliament (NMCP) does, organisations may also organise workshops for children to learn all about human rights and civic participation. Children's issues are everyone's responsibility