Issued by: Ministry of Welfare and Population Development
25 August 1996
Welfare and Population Development Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, leaves for Stockholm, Sweden, tonight (SUN) to present a South African position paper on sexual exploitation of children.
Leading a South African delegation which comprise representatives from various Government departments and non-governmental organisations, Minister Fraser-Moleketi, will also deliver a message from President Nelson Mandela to the World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children. The congress starts on Tuesday.
African, European, Asian and American country representatives will also present their positions at the prestigious congress, which aims to draw international attention to the problems of child prostitution, child pornography, the sale and trafficking of children for sexual purposes. The congress also aims to initiate decisive action - nationally and internationally - to put an end to the heinous violation of children's rights.
Commercial sexual exploitation of children occurs in many different ways and in a wide variety of settings. The underlying causes are numerous, complex and closely interrelated and should be analysed, understood and confronted accordingly. To facilitate greater understanding, the Planning Committee (the Swedish Government, UNICEF, ECPAT, and the NGO Group on the Rights of the Child) has commissioned theme papers on nine major topics. These will be discussed in panel sessions and workshops at the congress.
Themes to be covered by the congress are:
By signing the World Summit Declaration in 1993 and ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) on June 16, 1995, South Africa committed herself to the promotion of the well-being of her children.
The Government launched the National Programme of Action for Children (NPA) in May 1996. This programme undertakes to meet the World Summit call for the survival, protection, development, participation of children and the creation of a society that prioritises the needs of children, especially those in difficult circumstances.
As child prostitution continues to become one of the growing and disturbing phenomenons in South Africa, it is against this background why we are participating at the World Congress in Sweden. Incidents like the shocking rape of a nine-year-old schoolgirl, as reported in a Johannesburg Saturday newspaper, call for action from all of us, not merely from the police. According to the newspaper report, the girl was raped almost every day after school for more than two years by a taxi driver she had befriended as she travelled from her Vosloorus home to her school in Katlehong, East Rand.
Acts like this deserve more than condemnation, should be stamped out and call for co-operation from all sectors of our community. There are sadly many similar incidents taking place in South Africa, unreported.
Official statistics from the Child Protection Unit (CPU) are raising concern at the alarming rate in the daily sexual abuse of children in the country. CPU statistics show an appalling increase of 60% in reported child rape cases during the period 1993 - 1994, especially when compared to the 16% increase for adult rape during the same period. In 1995 alone, the CPU had to deal with 16 083 cases of child sexual offences, of which 10 037 were rape, 660 were sodomy, 221 were incest, 4 044 were indecent assault and 1 121 were infringement of Act 23 of 1957. Projected figures of the CPU show that if sexual offences against children continue to increase at the current rate of 28,9% per year, CPU will have to deal with 827 192 sexual abuse cases by the year 2000.
Enquiries: Brian Sokutu, Ministry Spokesman Cellphone-number 082-807-5395