Child abuse and child rights violation are rampant in Swaziland. UNICEF (2008) shows that 33% of women in Swaziland had been sexually abused as a child and 25% experienced physical violence. The study shows that about 38% of girls and young women aged 13 and 24 have experienced some form of violence at one point in their lives. Compassionate Swaziland works to mobilize communities to create open forums where community leaders and their members have dialogues on issues around children. The dialogue forums are used to identify advocacy issues which are taken up with policy makers at national policy forums. While the government of Swaziland is a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), no known organization or government department is making efforts to reach out to rural communities in the country to educate community members on CRS. COMPASSIONATE-Swaziland works to ensure that communities are educated on CRC through the involvement of community leaders, parents and guardians.
Towards this end Compassionate works with rural communities to mobilize resources necessary for child protection. Through trainings Compassionate builds the capacity of local communities to form/village based child protection committees that are used as a platform to advocate against child abuse and gender based violence.
Sexual abuse by grand father; (Times of Swaziland, 26th Nov. 2010) www.times.co.sz |
