Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child |26 November 2015

‘Seychelles committed to safeguarding children’s rights’

Stakeholders are working on a fifth and sixth combined report on how the rights of children are being implemented in Seychelles.

Seychelles was among the first countries to sign the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in September 1990.  All states parties are obliged to submit regular reports to the committee on how the rights are being implemented and states must report initially two years after acceding to the convention and every five years thereafter.

Seychelles’ initial report was submitted in 2001. The second, third and fourth consolidated report was submitted in 2009 and now the stakeholders are working on the fifth and sixth combined report which is due for submission by April 2016. A working session for that purpose was held earlier this week at the Seychelles Trading Company’s conference room.

“We hear people talk a lot about the Convention on the Rights of the Child locally, sometimes in a positive manner and a lot of times in a negative manner. (Nou tann dimoun dir ki konvansyon in fer zanfan malelve, ki nou’n donn zanfan drwa me pa responsabilite, ki konvansyon in retir lotorite paran). The fact of the matter is that the Convention has heralded a universal way of viewing children's vulnerability and need for protection. It has created standards against which to measure actions aimed at promoting and ensuring children’s rights. In the context of Seychelles it speaks of principles also reflected in the Constitution of our Republic. It is safe to say that we have a good track record in the provision of rights for our children but this has never been a reason to stop there. Many challenges still persist. Reporting on the implementation of the CRC is a platform not only for us to outline the positive strides but also take stock of the persisting challenges that make full compliance difficult. It is also an opportunity to outline our future plans and vision to provide better outcomes for our children,” said the principal secretary for social affairs, Linda William-Melanie.

She further talked about the process of collecting information for this report. “Annually we have taken stock of what has been and what has not been done. These actions which respond to the recommendations of the UN Committee will be the basis of our report. Where there has been no action we need to be frank not only to admit so but also to explain why. Key to this process is ongoing frank dialogue between ourselves as the agencies on which the onus lays to implement the Convention, for a report that reflects our realities. This will ensure frank dialogue with the UN Committee when we eventually defend our report.  We are lucky in Seychelles to live in a place where many of the basic human rights like health, education and shelter have been achieved. However we are mindful that in some cases old challenges have combined with new problems to deprive many children of their rights and the benefits of development,” Mrs William-Melanie said.

Michelle Marguerite, senior legal officer at the social affairs department, said.
 
when Seychelles signed the Convention “we gave a solemn commitment to give high priority to the rights of our children”.

The focus of this workshop, she said, is to collect information consistent with the Convention; to update status of implementation areas of concern/action taken/constraints & challenges; to engage stakeholders in dialogue about CRC implementation and to improve accountability.

Andy Jean-Louis, a consultant who is working on this report, helped the stakeholders go through the different processes and noted that “in general Seychelles is complying with most of the Convention rights”.

“We need to smooth out some challenges we are facing in Seychelles such as collecting proper statistics. We are hoping to rectify the report and get it ready to be sent by February 2016,” he said.

Delegates from the following institutions/departments took part in the working session: community development, social affairs, employment, health, National Council for Children and the Seychelles National Youth Council.