South African Children Remind Us: It is our country too!!
By Charlotte Vuyiswa McClain (cmccmain@sahrc.org.za)
South Africa's population was estimated to be 39.7 million according to the 1996 census, nearly half of whom are children under the age of 18! Some 15% of the total population is aged 5 years or younger; a further 21% is aged 6 to 14 years. Clearly, children form a very large proportion of the total population and who represent the future of the country. However, the sad fact is that a large proportion of these children are disadvantaged by poverty and those who have a disability, often face a harsher reality than children who are not disabled.
Income distribution is extremely unequal in South Africa, with the poorest 40% of households earning less than 6% of the total national income, while the richest 10% earn more than half the national income. About 40% of all South African households live in poverty, with African households and rural households -especially those headed by women - being the most affected. So the plight of children in woman-headed households, especially in the rural areas is often worse than those living in the cities.
Situation affected by shame, poverty, abandonment
There are no reliable statistical data on the number of children with disabilities available currently. This is not only because of the absence of desegregated data but also because of a culture of shame where myths and the stigma attached to the disabled, make such children "invisible". Children with disabilities are still hidden away, not registered at birth and in many cases abandoned by their parents. It has been estimated that about 12% of the South African population is disabled, and that approximately 4 million children experience different forms of disability. The vast majority of disabled children are Black, with those in the rural areas being particularly vulnerable, besides genetically determined and those resulting from gestation, many disabilities result from poverty and preventable diseases, such as polio, as well as from community violence. The nexus between poverty and disability has been clearly established and will be examined in forthcoming articles.
At a theoretical level South Africa has clearly demonstrated a commitment to address the rights of children. The first International Convention signed by the democratic government was the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child [CRC] in June 1994. Simply put, the CRC provides a holistic framework of comprehensive and binding principles, which protect children globally. It provides a set of minimum standards of entitlement for all children. More particularly Article 23 addresses the situation of children with disabilities.
Constitution born of a struggle for equality for all
South Africa's Constitution is the envy of many nations. It is a Constitution, which was borne out of a struggle for equality and human dignity for all. In this repository of values and norms of our nation we have a dedicated section, 28 for children's rights. which includes children's rights to basic shelter, nutrition, health care and social services. The Equality section prohibits discrimination on a number of grounds including on the grounds of disability. The Constitution also recognises Sign language.
Consideration of a new child-centered Act
One can see that South Africa has over the last eight years developed a fairly elaborate web of policies and frameworks that seek to protect children. While, we still do not have a comprehensive Act that protects children, much movement and thinking around its development has taken place. The South African Law Commission is currently engaging in a very exciting and a quite radical process of revamping the present childcare act. The new act is envisaged to be more child centred as well as more rights based. This is important as it alerts us to issues and principles such as non-discrimination, equality and human dignity all-important for the growth and development of children with disabilities.
There remain a number of defects in the present legislative environment. These including the lack of appropriate interpreter services for children with disabilities in children's court proceedings; the inaccessibility for children with disabilities of the majority of children's homes, places of care, and places of safety (physical inaccessibility, lack of trained staff, shortage of assistive devices); various forms of discrimination against prospective adoptive parents with disabilities, as well as children with disabilities; the vulnerability of such children to sexual, physical and emotional abuse; and the lack of co-ordination of legislation affecting children with disabilities.
Parents or foster parents of disabled children only qualify for care-dependency grants if the child in question (between the ages of 1 and 18 years) requires permanent home care due to his or her severe mental or physical disability. Disability grants are payable only from age 18, and free medical care is at present limited to children aged 6 years or under.
Reports of abuse
Reports of abuse against children with disabilities and deficiencies in the law are reminders that struggle is not over. Recently, one of our leading newspapers carried a front-page story of a young disabled boy who was tied to a tree because his mother was just not able to "cope". Poverty, fatigue and the lack of access to services all being major contributors to this family's plight. These painful and complex stories are often reflections of discrimination and social exclusion. These are experiences of many children with disabilities at local level, at an individual level, in a specific context, in specific places and in specific interactions. They happen in spite of the elaborate network of international instruments. However, this should not detract from the importance of having these instruments. We must be mindful that international and national legislative frameworks that respect, protect, promote and fulfil human rights provide the basis on which we can construct strategies to better protect children with disabilities.
Given that children with disabilities are even more marginalized and silent than children in general. The recent child participation workshops with children with disabilities were hugely significant. An NGO held workshops that looked at social assistance issues with regard to children with disabilities. The workshops revealed exclusion from mainstream society, sexual abuse as well as high levels of poverty. The workshops raised concerns about the availability of services to children with disabilities in rural areas and the low- take up of the Care Dependency grant.
Challenge of implementing inclusive education
Listening to children and empowering them to protect and claim their rights must be the basis of any policies that seek to see children as bearers of rights and therefore claimants in the event of a violation. The South African government has committed itself to inclusive education. However many problems abound in this area. Education of children with disabilities is often an area that probes and provokes the extent of enjoyment of their rights. "Special education" or special schools often compound segregation and marginalisation of children with disabilities. Furthermore, widespread assumptions that children in these schools are "lesser" or not able to learn fester existing myths and prejudices. The message must be that children with disabilities are first and foremost children, and human, with rights. Their disability should never be conflated with their ability. The human rights perspective on disability involves a much more nuanced approach to incompetence. It recognises differences and puts in place protections.
It is dangerous to see children, any child from a utilitarian point of view. We should not be thinking about respecting and protecting the rights of our children because they are our future, we should be respecting, protecting and promoting their rights because they are human, and children now in the present and also because they are vulnerable.
We must be the catalysts of change for children
With the legislative landscape that respects and protects the rights of children, we can now proceed to ask the question, "is it reasonable for the State not to afford services to this vulnerable segment of society, we can demand plans and roll out programmes of how and when will these services be in place. Accountability is a critical element of good governance. We need to be asking how and on whom is Government spending on. Particularly, in light of the recent landmark Constitutional Court "Grootboom" case. Briefly the Court held that the State must ensure that policies accommodate people in desperate need.
We must continue to ensure that civil society and more particularly DPO's participate in all aspects of policy development. Monitoring and lobbying needs to remain high on the agenda of DPO's. We cannot afford to be complacent and hope that now because we have a democracy things will automatically get better. Things can get better but we must be the catalysts, the agents of change for our children today and for tomorrow.
Our greatest challenge as a nation perhaps still lies ahead. It is to ensure that the policies and laws that many have fought so gallantly for do not remain paper tigers but are tools that protect and improve the quality of life of all disabled children in South Africa.
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