Gabisile Nxumato, 19, of Swaziland, gave birth to her young daughter when she was just 18. The father, 31, is unemployed and unable to help care for the child, forcing Gabisile to drop out of school. Orphaned since the age of 14, Gabisile lives with her uncle and helps take care of her younger siblings, as well as her own child.
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The Constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland, 2005 Rights of the child. (7) Parliament shall enact laws necessary to ensure that — (a) a child has the right to the same measure of special care, assistance and maintenance as is necessary for its development from its natural parents, except where those parents have effectively surrendered their rights and responsibilities in respect of the child in accordance with law; (b) a child is entitled to reasonable provision out of the estate of its parents; (c) parents undertake their natural right and obligation of care, maintenance and proper upbringing of their children; and (d) children receive special protection against exposure to physical and moral hazards within and outside the family.
26 | Willamette Lawyer
waziland, South Africa’s tiny neighbor and Africa’s last absolute monarchy, has a similarly uneven record on children’s rights. The challenges facing the country and its children are daunting. Swaziland’s life expectancy is just 49 years; nearly 70 percent of its people live below the poverty line. AIDS has devastated the country: the number of people with the disease — 26 percent of the population — is the highest in the world. The constitution, adopted in 2005, requires the government to enact laws that guarantee children a free education through the end of primary school, protects them against “moral and spiritual hazards inside and outside the family” and requires children to respect their parents and care for them when needed. Last September King Mswati III signed into law the Children’s Protection and Welfare Act, which makes illegal all practices that would adversely affect a child’s health and intellectual development. “We now have it in black and white that children are protected,” says Mandla Luphondvo, communications manager for World Vision Swaziland, a Christian humanitarian organization that fights poverty and injustice. “There is a recognition that children have the right to be children. I’m happy to say that we have turned a corner.” But the immense challenges facing this lush country of beehiveshaped houses and sorghum fields arranged like tiers of wedding cake along the mountainside show how difficult it is to prioritize