Save children from statelessness in South Africa

“Children are the soul of our society. If we fail them, then we have failed as a society.” – Judge Halima Salduker in S v Presiding Officer of the children’s Court: District of Krugersdorp 2012 (6) SA 45 (GSJ)

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 Lawyers for Human Rights' Statelessness Project continued over the reporting period to promote and advocate for the rights of stateless children. Most importanty, on World Children’s Day 2021, Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) together with Save the Children (SCSA) focused on capacitating and empowering child protection actors, with a joint launch of “A PRACTICAL GUIDE: Documentation of Children in South Africa, Including Unaccompanied and Separated Migrant Children.”

More than a thousand hard- and e-copies of this guide was distributed to social workers, caseworkers, social service professionals and community development workers, as well as community-based justice actors, like legal counsellors and paralegals, across South Africa.

Children’s rights are entrenched in the Bill of Rights in the Constitution of South Africa. These rights apply to all children in South Africa and include; the right to education, the right to health care, the right to social assistance, as well as the right to be protected from maltreatment, abuse or degradation.

However, in order to secure these rights, children must be documented. Lack of documentation not only deprives children of their rights but impacts all areas of their life. They’re also exposed to serious child protection issues like arrest and detention, child-labour, child-marriage or human-trafficking and face an increased risk of childhood statelessness.

South Africa is a major destination for children on the move from the Eastern and Southern Africa regions. According to UNICEF’s latest data on migrant and displaced children, more than 642 000 migrant or displaced children live in South Africa and includes refugees, asylum seekers, victims of trafficking or smuggling, and unaccompanied and separated migrant children.

In launching this practical guide, SCSA and LHR will help build capacity on the ground. LHR also called upon government and non-government actors to rise to the challenge of ensuring no child in South Africa has to suffer the indignity of being undocumented, or face exclusion due to lack of documentation. LHR further called upon duty bearers, including policy makers, to ensure implementation of existing policies and guidelines as shared in the guide booklet and to consider reviewing policies that perpetuates the risk of lack of documentation and childhood statelessness among children in South Africa.

LHR's Statelessness Project is looking forward to another great year, with numerous advocacy and capacity-building initiatives underway, as well as several strategic cases that the team is ready to launch in its fight for recognition of all within South Africa's borders! 

Links:

• A PRACTICAL GUIDE: Documentation of Children in South Africa