Press statement: Ahead of the 2024 Budget Speech, the United Nations urges South Africa to protect children from budget cuts

13 February 2024
Children’s Institute (UCT) press statement: Ahead of the 2024 Budget Speech, the United Nations urges South Africa to protect children from budget cuts

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is urging the South African government to ensure that children’s rights are not impacted by rising living costs or cuts to government budgets.

The Committee included these recommendations in its concluding observations issued on 8 February 2024, following its meeting in Geneva with the South African government delegation to discuss progress in improving the lives of children in South Africa.  

The Committee, a body of 18 independent experts, monitors the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, by the countries that have agreed to be bound by the Convention. All those countries (including South Africa) must submit regular reports to the Committee on the progress they have made in realising children’s rights and any challenges preventing progress. Civil society is invited to make submissions to the Committee, before the Committee meets with the government delegation to discuss the state report. The Children’s Institute (University of Cape Town) drew the Committee’s attention to several urgent challenges, including the need for the government to budget in a way that prioritises the development and wellbeing of children.

In its recommendations, the Committee states that South Africa should: “Allocate adequate budgetary resources, in accordance with article 4 of the Convention, for the implementation of children’s rights, in particular the social sectors, and to ensure that the sectors relevant for children’s rights are not affected by inflation, budget cuts or adverse economic conditions”.

Read the full statement here.