it is bitterly ironic that the "whipping ritual" report comes out the same day as this statement below:
guess it's just one more example of "the unique" Swazi culture - a culture of pain and brutality! SOUTH AFRICAN DEMOCRATIC TEACHERS UNION MEDIA STATEMENT 26 MAY 2010 STATEMENT ON CHILD PROTECTION WEEK As South Africa observes Child Protection Week from today 26 May to 2 June, the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) has urged its members to use this period to promote children’s well being and rights in the run up to the Soccer World Cup tournament. While we are aware of the many benefits of hosting such an event like accelerating growth and development, building unity, pride and fostering patriotism in our country, the World Cup also opens opportunities for criminals who traffick women and children. According to the United Nations Global Report on Trafficking in Persons approximately 80% of victims are women and girls, and up to 50% are minor children. Seventy nine percent of victims are used for sexual exploitation and 18% are subject to forced labour. As SADTU, we are aware that our mid-term holidays have been extended to accommodate the World Cup. This will unfortunately leave a large number of children with no proper supervision. We therefore urge our members to put aside 60 seconds of time allocated to their teaching activities to foster awareness and the need for every child, parent and communities to be vigilant and take extra cautionary measures to protect themselves, friends and young children on the dangers poised by strangers, suspicious looking individuals and offers made by strangers for a better life. It is most important to stress “safety in numbers” and extra precautions on the popular mall visits, wild parties and the stadiums. We urge parents, caregivers and the broader community to ensure that children are taken care of and the spirit of ubuntu prevails to protect vulnerable child-headed households in our communities during this period SADTU supports building a caring society. We also welcome the launch of the Children’s Act that seeks to promote and protect children’s rights. The Act makes it a crime to traffick children. ISSUED BY: SADTU Secretariat Contact: Mugwena Maluleke, General Secretary 0827832968 Nkosana Dolopi, Deputy General Secretary 0827095651 Nomusa Cembi, Media Officer 0827195157 �[email protected] -- NEW!!!! SSN FORUM IS ON FACEBOOK!!!! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Swaziland Solidarity Network Forum Google Group. Visit the group home page at http://groups-beta.google.com/group/sa-swaziland-solidarity-eom-forum for more options, pages and files. To post to the group, send email to [email protected] or reply to this message. To unsubscribe, send email to [email protected]
