Time to enact the Child Protection and Welfare Bill
MASERU--On the eve of the Day of the African Child and in an effort to sustain the theme of ‘protecting children against violence and abuse’, a week long training of child care providers ended yesterday with a call to intensify collaboration and action to safeguard children’s healthy development in a society that is being deeply affected by the impact of HIV and AIDS.
The Government of Lesotho and UNICEF joined hands in training Social Welfare, Probation Unit, Master of the High Court and Juvenile Training Centre officers on existing and new child protection policy and legal frameworks, in order to implement and enforce the long awaited Child Protection and Welfare (CPW) Bill, once it is enacted this year.
The bill is an outcome of the review of the 1980 Children’s Protection Act and has been developed in keeping with the Convention on the Rights of the Child which Lesotho ratified in 1992 and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. As such it has addressed many of the crucial gaps in new and emerging child protection and welfare issues and provides the overall framework for ensuring adequate standards of care for orphaned and vulnerable (OVC) children in Lesotho.
In view of the dire situation of OVC whose numbers are rapidly increasing, there is a strong consensus among major stakeholders in government and civil society for the enactment of the CPW bill without further delay. It is also imperative for child care professionals to be equipped with adequate knowledge of policy and legislation to effectively carry out their mandate in the protection of children. This follows the training supported by UNICEF in May of over 40 medical doctors and 10 legal officers from the districts in the newly developed Guidelines on the Management of Rape Survivors.
With an estimated 180,000 orphaned and vulnerable children (UNAIDS 2005) who have lost the nurturing and protective environment of their primary caregivers; exploitation, resort to hazardous labour, commercial sex, domestic work, trafficking of children across borders and children ending up in conflict with the law are on the rise in Lesotho. Some 30 per cent of orphaned children are out of school, many of which are girls who have dropped out to look after ailing family members (MOET). Many resort to high risk behaviour or work – that puts them at risk of abuse, violence or contracting HIV, in order to earn a living to support siblings or for survival.
Statistics speak for themselves, 50% of rape cases in Lesotho are among teenagers, 29% of children aged 5-17 years are involved in some sort of enforced labour and 43% of sexual abuses occur in the home of the survivor (CGPU 2005).
“One of the most important, but often understated, impacts of the HIV/AIDS pandemic is the effect it has on the protection of children’s basic rights. We are increasingly seeing cases of the same caregivers taking advantage of children in their care, by sexually, physically and emotionally abusing them, exploiting them as domestic workers or depriving them of their rightful inheritance” said Mr. K. Ketso, Assistant Master of the High Court
“The Child Protection and Welfare (CPW) Bill must be enacted with the utmost urgency in order to empower child protection officers to protect the growing number of children being abused and exploited. Without this vital legislation, for example, the current practice in affording children their rightful property rests on individual executing officers’ discretion” said Mr. K. Ketso.
Child Protection Officers from all districts came together to share experiences and vital information on child protection issues. They felt the training was critical to strengthen their knowledge of vital legislation and policy available to them to implement their jobs effectively. “This training is very important for us to create stronger networks and integrate our efforts in order to protect children effectively and safeguard their rights” said Ms. Mantoa Sejake, Social worker from Mafeteng.
“The job of child protection professionals cannot be insular, especially in the context of HIV/AIDS and increased sexual and labour exploitation. We must be conscious and responsive to a broad range of protection factors affecting the wellbeing of children and women in order to provide integrated, holistic and prompt services”, said Mrs. L. Chisepo, Director of Social Welfare, at the opening session.
A vast array of cases of violence against children was presented by the child care professionals, including the case of a 16 year old girl who was sexually abused by her stepfather since the age of 13. The girl fell pregnant three times but out of the three pregnancies only one was carried forward. Like many others where the perpetrator is a close family member, the matter was shrouded in secrecy until the case came to the attention of a social worker and the matter was referred to the Child and Gender Protection Unit (CGPU) of the Police. The perpetrator was arrested but the case is still pending judgement.
Through the networks established by means of the training, and improved knowledge on protective legislation for children, cases such as the aforementioned one, will be dealt with more effectively and in a quicker manner.
The call for intensified and enhanced action was reinforced by Ms. L. Chisepo who highlighted the critical role of all child protection professionals as “the gatekeepers of children’s safety. We are the first port of call for communities and the lack of a protective legal framework is seriously hampering our work as custodians of the wellbeing of children and women” she said.
In order for the Justice sector, Social Welfare, Probation and the Police to realize their duties, “we need an accelerated impetus to enact the long overdue CPW Bill. If we want child rights and child justice such as child friendly court procedures, restorative justice and diversion procedures to materialize in Lesotho the Bill has to be enacted promptly” said Ms. Sefora Tsiu, UNICEF Social Policy Officer.
The common standpoint prevailing on the occasion was the need to work together with other sectors and NGOs to ensure a safe and protective environment for children as the key to the continued existence of the nation. The call was unanimous to enact the Child protection and Welfare Bill “NOW!”.