South African legislation, as well as international conventions like the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child which have been ratified by South Africa, indicate shared and increasing acknowledgement of the importance of protecting and promoting children's rights. In South Africa these remain confined to principle and policy. In practice, poverty, unemployment, child labour, violence and abuse, inadequate policy support and serviced, ignorance and above all HIV/AIDS pose a real threat to the realisation and enjoyment of these rights.
This study on the interface between unempolyment, poverty and children's wellbeing in South Africa arose out of seminar, hosted by the Children's Budget Unit of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa, the Children's Institute of the University of Cape Town and Save the Children Sweden, to identify research gaps in the connection between child wellbeing and poverty.