Foreword release_7ci55s77njhnrpocm4ujooztmi

by Kammila Naidoo

Published in The Thinker by University of Johannesburg.

2024   Volume 98, Issue 1, p7-8

Abstract

I was delighted to open the conference on 'Violence Against Children' organized by the Department of Religion Studies, at the Universityof Johannesburg, in partnership with the New Testament Society of Southern Africa (NTSSA). I am extremely pleased that a special issue on the topic has been produced so briskly. Although there is currently much work being done on violence, there is insufficient interdisciplinary and collaborative work on how violence configures the lives of children in Southern African countries. One does not hear of conferences on children or children's rights as often as one might hear about initiatives on other compelling topics. This coming together of scholars to reflect on the experiences and lived realities of children – and, on the theme of childrenand violence – is exciting and timely. Currently, there are more than 2 billion children in the world, with the highest proportion living in sub-Saharan Africa. By the middle of this century, more than 40 percent of children younger than 5 years will be resident here. It is often pointed out that a child's life chances are shaped by the place of birth, year of birth, and privileges of the natal familial context – in this regard, class, race, nationality, regionality, and gender are some of the key predictors of a child's future. Many countries face entrenched inequalities and disparities, thus economic, sociopolitical,cultural, religious, and communal factors often have considerable and defining impacts on a child's future well-being and success. Interventionsto create equality of opportunities and mitigate inherited disadvantages have been considerable. Despite government and civil society efforts, thesituation of children today remains dire. This is distressing to note for all who work in this field and who acknowledge that a country's future stability, growth, and development, are inextricably linked to the ways in which this youngest cohort is treated, catered for, inspired, and afforded economic, social, and educational opportunities.
In application/xml+jats format

Archived Files and Locations

application/pdf   1.3 MB
file_bq2gqixnmfdcvptfbhson5y3vi
journals.uj.ac.za (publisher)
web.archive.org (webarchive)
Read Archived PDF
Preserved and Accessible
Type  article-journal
Stage   published
Date   2024-03-01
Container Metadata
Open Access Publication
In DOAJ
In Keepers Registry
ISSN-L:  2075-2458
Work Entity
access all versions, variants, and formats of this works (eg, pre-prints)
Catalog Record
Revision: 0079d6dc-ddd5-410c-b2a8-de035a9ccc55
API URL: JSON