Child parliamentarians meet with Police
Child parliamentarians who have gathered in Cape Town for the 4th Annual Nelson Mandela Children’s Parliament have spent time at the Cape Town Central Police Station interacting with members of the South African Police Service.
Members of the Child Protection Unit – a branch of the Family Violence and Sexual Offences Division – took time out to engage and educate the children on different matters relating to their safety and what to do when they find themselves in dangerous situations.
Among the points of discussion were the forms of physical and sexual abuse and how children can know when they are being abused. The children were also given tips on anticipating possible abuse and how to escape it.
Forensic Social Worker, Captain Merle Fortuin, explained the importance of reporting abuse to the police immediately after its occurrence in order to create the opportunity for police to collect evidence that can lead to the prosecution of the perpetrator.
Captain Fortuin also spent time explaining the procedures followed by police when cases of child abuse are reported and the important information that children, parents or caregivers need to have when reporting cases of abuse in order to improve chances of prosecution.
The children were further encouraged to make contact with child protection officers in their local police stations in order to have direct access to them in case of an emergency.
The young parliamentarians were also encouraged to use the Department of Social Development’s Gender Based Violence Command Centre, which operates through a toll free number 0800 428 428 (0800 GBV GBV) and provides support and counselling to victims of gender based violence, including children.
The Command Centre allows social worker agents to provide telephonic support and counselling and can direct the victim’s case to a social worker close to them. Callers can also request a social worker from the Command Centre to contact them by dialling *120*7867# (free) from any cell phone.
The child parliamentarians – who are in Parliament as representatives of children from all nine provinces – are expected to share this information as part of their feedback reports to their schools and children’s organisations in the areas they come from. Each province is represented by twelve child parliamentarians aged between eleven and seventeen.
Minister of Social Development, Ms Bathabile Dlamini, has expressed concern about diminishing child safety in the country. She has called for a national campaign, involving all relevant stakeholders, to save the children.
The Children’s Parliament – hosted by the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund in partnership with the Department of Social Development and the Parliament of South Africa – creates a platform for children’s participation in democracy and provides them an opportunity to make input to policies as well as programmes and strategies intended to realise their rights.
The sitting of the Children’s Parliament – through which the children will tell the nation how they have experienced the first twenty years of democracy and, in their view, what challenges still remain in the progressive realisation of their democratic rights and responsibilities – will take place on October 9 in the Old Assembly in Parliament.
It is a key programme of Social Development Month (October), which aims to increase access to and utilisation of social services through direct intervention by building effective service delivery partnerships between government, communities and other role players.
Social Development Month takes place under the auspices of the Department’s flagship outreach programme, Project Mikondzo – a service delivery improvement programme aimed at responding quicker, more effectively and innovatively to social challenges in the country.
Media enquiries to:
Lumka Oliphant
Cell: 083 484 8067
E-mail: lumkao@dsd.gov.za
