Even refugee children should enjoy equal rights — advocacy adviser
National Child’s Right advocacy adviser at SOS Children’s Villages, Mosa Moremi, insists refugee and immigrant children also enjoy rights, as do any children of South Africa.
This is in light of Child Protection Week, that kicked off from May 27 to June 2.
Mosa strongly believes that child rights cut across and remain the same, irrespective of the child’s origin.
In light of this, Mosa was quite shocked when she discovered that children in their (SOS) care were not covered by the Children’s Act, simply because they are children of refugees, despite the fact that they have been abandoned and are suffering neglect, while living in poor conditions.
According to Mosa it becomes difficult for children who are not registered to have rights in South Africa.
“Children are children and must not be discriminated against because of their identity,” she said.
”These children should not be pushed away, they did not choose their situation so we need to treat them equally, with all the children of this land.”
Mosa added that, at the SOS Children’s Villages, they often find children abandoned on their doorstep, while others are brought to them by social workers.
“We then take care of the children and investigate the whereabouts of the parents, so we can trace them,” she explained.
She said there is a need to ensure appropriate protection, including access to education, for children seeking refugee status, whether unaccompanied or accompanied by parents and legal guardians.
“We need to understand that these children long for a sense of belonging; they want to belong in a family and be part of a community,” Mosa said.
“We are seeking to partner with the state or other stakeholders in caring for such children, while the families are being traced. After all, we need to ensure that refugee parents in South Africa are included in programmes that will empower them to be able to care for their children.
“We also need to make sure that we can reunite these children with their biological families, whether they are in South Africa or in other countries of origin, provided there is no risk of persecution or inhumane treatment in their own country.”
Mosa appealed against xenophobia, as this could result in refugee parents either fleeing the country or being killed, resulting in children being abandoned and without rights in South Africa.
“People should stop discriminating and everything we do should be in the interests of the children, even if they are immigrants.
“All children need love and protection,” she concluded.
