Non-governmental organisation focussing on child abuse, Teddy Bear Foundation clinical director Dr Shaheda Omar said on Tuesday that ending violence against children relies on effective governance and accountability, as she expressed support for the relocation of the Office on the Rights of the Child (ORC) to the Presidency.

Speaking during a Helen Suzman Foundation webinar on effective child rights governance, Omar said ending violence against children was a social developmental goal.

Child rights governance is a system for ensuring that children's rights are upheld and implemented by governments and societies, based on international treaties such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Omar explained that effective child rights governance required strong leadership, coordination across government sectors and participation of children and young people in decisions that affected them.

“…we also need to look at dedicated resources and budget allocations; monitoring and accountability mechanisms that track outcomes, not just intentions. Intentions are noble and good but it is the outcomes that actually speak to the challenges and the ongoing violations against children,” she said.

Looking at South Africa’s current challenges, Omar said there was fragmentation across multiple departments such as social development, justice, education, health and police, all of which were not consulting with each another.

As a result, she explained that there were weak coordination mechanisms between the national, provincial and local levels, with limited enforcement and data sharing across the sectors.

“…because there is lack of consultation, you are going to find that the enforcement on the ground is limited and we not seeing the results we want to achieve,” she said.

Omar also called out the insufficient monitoring of commitments under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

She said the ORC currently lacked the political authority and structural positioning to drive intersectoral action.

Meanwhile, Omar welcomed the relocation of the ORC to the Presidency, which she said had overarching oversight across ministries and could drive integrated government responses.

She said the move signalled high-level political commitment to end violence against children and would allow for policy coherence, budgetary leverage and national accountability, similar to successful models witnessed across countries such as Rwanda, Namibia and Europe.

Earlier this year there had been urgent calls by the Department of Social Development for the relocation of the ORC to the Office of the Presidency.

Organisations such as the South African Child Rights Coalition and Save the Children South Africa also pushed for this move, highlighting it as a symbolic and practical declaration of commitment to children.

Omar highlighted that the relocation would ensure that child protection was not viewed as a welfare issue but as one of national development.

In 2022, the children’s consultation meeting also made a call for the relocation of children’s department back to the Office of the Presidency to ensure that all departmental Ministers account under the Office of the Presidency on issues affecting children.