IS IT A BILL ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD OR A BILL ON THE DUTIES, OBLIGATIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF SOCIETY TOWARDS CHILDREN?

On December 2, 2001 my daughter, who had just turned five months old, was brutally gang- raped, cut open with a bottle and left to bleed on the urine-stained bed of her seedy hotel room in downtown Johannesburgher ordeal is our collective failure as adults to protect our children from grievous bodily harm and this heinous crime against the innocence of young girls in South Africa and everywhere else. Claudia Ford, My precious moonbeam, Sunday Times, 17 November 2002 Section 28 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa is usually referred to as the Childrens Bill of Rights, echoing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. However, children in South Africa, like children in almost every part of the world, are victims of neglect, maltreatment, degradation, sexual abuse and exploitation despite section 28 of the Constitution, the UN convention and the African Charter and the principle of the best interests of the child in all matters concerning the child - confirming Einsteins observation that the world is a dangerous place not because of the evil that people do but because of those who let it happen. Are children themselves expected to defend their rights? After all, section 28 of the Constitution only lists the rights of every child. Section 28(d), for instance, provides that every child has the right.....to be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse or degradation. Children are being raped almost every day. Many children are assaulted and even murdered throughout the country. Children are left homeless and neglected. Hundreds of children are begging in streets for scraps of food. And there is the exponential growth in the traumatisation and victimisation of children through online sexual abuse and exploitation. But, according to section 28(d) of the Constitution, all those children have the right to be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse and degradation. Right to be protected by whom? Perhaps the reference to the rights of the child is part of the problem. Adults are able to protect and defend their constitutional rights because they are adults with life experiences and knowledge of their rights. Is the same expected of an infant with no life experience or knowledge? The fact is that children in South Africa, like children elsewhere, do not enjoy any constitutional right for the simple reason that they are in no position to protect and defend the rights themselves.

It may be argued that it may not make any difference but would it not be more sensible for section 28 of the Constitution to be re-drafted as the duties, obligations and responsibilities of adults towards children? Perhaps the introduction to section 28 should be re-drafted to read as follows: Children 28 (1) Every adult has the duty, obligation and responsibility to ensure that every child-..... And would it not make more sense if the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child were re-drafted as the Convention/Charter on the Duties, Obligations and Responsibilities of Governments Towards Children?