South Africa through the Department of Social Development, in collaboration with the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, will be hosting the second Africa Children’s Summit, scheduled to take place in Johannesburg.

The summit forms part of a series of activities during the country’s Presidency of the Group of 20 (G20), which will culminate in the G20 Leaders’ Summit in November this year, and aims to promote child-centred dialogue and advocacy; empower children as agents of change and ensure inclusive and equitable participation.

It also aims to provide evidence-based policy recommendations; strengthen collaboration across sectors and regions on the continent; review and advance progress; raise awareness and mobilise for national and regional action.

The child-led summit, which aims to amplify the voices of children in policymaking and decision-making processes across the continent, is also aligned to the African Union (AU) Agenda 2040, and the recent Bogotá 2024 Global Commitment to Ending Violence Against Children.

Social Development Minister, Nokuzola Tolashe, said of the 54 states in Africa, 17 have confirmed participation.

“The Summit will bring together 1300 children from 10-17 years from all five African regions, with around 300 children expected to attend in-person and about 1000 children expected to participate virtually.”

She added that the landmark gathering is aimed at championing child participation and shaping the future trajectory of the African continent with inputs from children.

This follows the inaugural summit held in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2023.

The child-led summit emphasises the importance of children’s agency under the saying “Nothing about us without us”. “The summit creates a platform … for accelerated action needed to realise the full enjoyment of the human rights and freedoms of all children on the African continent. Because it is led by children themselves, it gives them a collective voice to share their views and hold African leaders and governments to account on key issues affecting them.

“These include democracy, emerging technologies and climate change, promoting inclusive education for all children, [the]role of artificial intelligence (AI) in education, addressing school violence [and] gender-based violence (GBV) against children, amongst others,” Tolashe said.

The Minister also highlighted that the child-friendly programme will feature a dynamic and inclusive structure that is designed to maximise engagement, encourage meaningful participation, and foster intergenerational dialogue.

The host has also ensured the inclusion of about 50 children with disabilities in the summit. “Children with disabilities are among the most vulnerable people on the continent. Recent reports point to the harsh realities of their daily lives and that children with disabilities are twice as likely to be victims of sexual abuse as their non-disabled peers.

“Both the CRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) and the African Children’s Charter, put an obligation on the African State to promote the development of all children, [and] where possible prevent disabilities, and realise the rights of children with disabilities,” Tolashe said.

The CRC is a human rights convention that sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. It was the first international convention that the newly elected democratic government ratified on 16 June 1996.