Former Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt visits Alex crèche
ALEXANDRA – The former Prime Minister of Denmark, Helle Thorning-Schmidt launches a global report, Stolen Childhoods, visits Setswetla, Alexandra.
Former Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt visited Alexandra’s Hlayisanani Day Care Centre in Setswetla, one of the poorest informal settlements in the township.
She was in Alex as part of her global programme to launch the Stolen Childhoods report in South Africa, which she launched privately to government officials soon after her Alex visit. Her visit came at an opportune time with the recent spate of murders of women and children in South Africa.
Extracts from the report by Save the Children said one in every four children in South Africa is being robbed of their childhood, making the country the most dangerous place in Africa for children to grow up.
It is said that a quarter of the world’s children are being denied a childhood. The report, which includes a global index, ranks the places where childhoods are the most and the least threatened.
Read: Child Protection Week launched
Launched to coincide with International Children’s Day, the Stolen Childhoods report has found that at least 700 million children – and possibly hundreds of millions more – have had the promise of a full childhood brought to an early end.
The reasons are said to vary from extreme violence and conflict, often driving families from their homes; early marriage and pregnancy; child labour, poor health and not being able to go to school.
In South Africa, the report highlighted the high level of child homicides and extreme violence against children as the most common and concerning indicator, Thorning-Schmidt said.
South Africa is ranked 103, along with Peru. “While the country is not at the bottom end of the spectrum, this report is a reminder that we should not be complacent in addressing violence against children, in particular, gender-based violence,” she said.
Details: www.savethechildren.org.za
