Botswana celebrates strides made in Children Rights Convention

Mpho Mokwape | Tuesday October 14, 2014 08:00

 

Botswana is among the few countries that have made efforts to ratify and domesticate the convention through the enactment of the Children’s Act in 2009. 

During a stakeholders’ consultative meeting yesterday, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Country Representative, Vidhya Ganesh, said despite slow implementation of the Children’s Act, Botswana had made progress since the CRC adoption. 

She pointed out achievements like establishment of the National Children’s Council and the Children’s Consultative Forum as commendable milestones. 

“Although Botswana has made this historic progress, the concern is that the implementation of the Children’s Act has been slow due to capacity gaps within government and among civil society organisations,” she said. 

She added that civil society did not have the capacity to fully implement the programmes, which had resulted in lack of meaningful child participation in decision-making.  

Ganesh said countries that have ratified the convention have an obligation to report periodically to the Committee on their commitments to ensure the realisation of the CRC. 

Vice chairperson For National Children’s Council, Gloria Jacques, said the Children’s Act allowed for the establishment of the ‘the after care act’ which is focused on foster care as an alternative to adoption. 

She explained that CRC was a cross cutting initiative that placed each individual with the responsibility of protecting and caring for any child in need and giving them hope for the future. 

“The foster care programme was established in 2005 and as it stands we cannot fail as we are building the next generation of parents and leaders of tomorrow,” she said.