Seychelles and AU collaborate on child protection initiatives |28 September 2023

The meeting yesterday between the AU delegation and the National Commission for Child Protection (Photo: Joena Meme)

A delegation from the African Union met with the National Commission for Child Protection yesterday morning as part of their four-day mission to see what countries are doing in respect of the pledge that Seychelles made in 2014, that all member states of the AU end child marriage on the continent.

In a post meeting interview, the principal secretary for Social Affairs, Linda William-Melanie, mentioned that given the ministry has a mandate for child protection, it was discussed with the department of Foreign Affairs and it was approved for the mission to take place.

“Given that we have submitted our initial report on how we are implementing the convention on the rights of the child and the other charter, the African Charter, we agreed to let them come, meet with the different stakeholders and get a feeling of what is happening in the country,” she stated.

The delegation will then proceed to see if the country is moving in the right direction and bring up any recommendations should they have some.

The AU has been around meeting with independent bodies such as the Human Rights Commission, the Ombudsman, National Council for Children, the Family department, among others.

“They want to see what sort of programmes we have in place to ensure that we are doing what is right by the two international instruments (The Convention on the Rights of the Child and The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child) and to also see what are the services we have to protect children.”

The AU delegation also met with a group of secondary students yesterday, among whom some were cohorts of the Seychelles National Youth Assembly. The Union has commended the ministry for taking the initiative of things such as the enrolment of the skills development programme with the employment department given that some of the teenagers are mothers and some have dropped out of school.

In the meeting, there was a discussion about the various other programmes that the National Commission is implementing.

“In a nutshell, they wanted to see what Seychelles is doing to support the children and the youth so that they can learn from us, learn from the different countries and share what they feel will be best practise for Seychelles and take the experience of Seychelles to the other countries.”

At the end of the AU mission, they will compile a report about their encounters, including recommendations.

The meeting had representations from various key stakeholders, such as the Attorney General’s Office and the different institutions in the country.

“When we meet we have the mandate to look at what is happening in the country with regard to children, what is affecting children. Policy matters and recommendations are made either to the ministries directly or to the minister, who has this portfolio responsibility, and these issues are discussed at cabinet level,” PS William-Melanie said. 

The debriefing will take place today. 

Sunny Esparon