Child Protection Week – Message of Support

23By the Child Safety & Protection team

“Our Children are Our Greatest Treasure they are Our Future. Those who Abuse Them Tear at the Fabric of Our Society and Weaken our Nation”.  - Nelson Mandela

The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund (the Fund) strives to Change the Way Society Treats its Children and Youth. The Fund’s mission is to be an African Rights Based Movement recognising the dignity and wellbeing of children. The National Child Protection Week is observed in the country to raise awareness of the rights of children as enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and articulated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
 
The Fund’s commitment to promoting safe environments for children, families and communities is a responsibility mandated by the founder Mr Mandela. He believed that the Fund can help build a society where children can be free from abuse, neglect, exploitation and any form of violence. To the Fund, Child Protection Week goes beyond the days of observation. It is the day to day efforts to create protective environments that prevent and respond to abuse, neglect and violence against children in households, schools and other spaces where they play, live and learn. In order to enable all children from birth 0 to 23 the ability to be safe, develop and thrive in their livelihoods.
 
Despite the efforts, commitments and promises made through the international, regional and domestic instruments. Children continue to suffer violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation every day, making them the most vulnerable members of our society. It is in the collaborations, influence, knowledge and attitudes to do better. To enable those responsible, communities and families to have better capacity of care for the well-being of children. 
 
It is against this backdrop that the Fund calls upon all civil society organisations, governments, businesses, parents, and duty bearers to fulfil children’s rights including those to protection. The call for protection depends on a global movement in which everybody understands and respects their duties to children, but also acts upon them to fulfil this reality.