03 January 2026

 

Kind Attention: Johannes Wedenig

Country Representative for UNICEF, South Africa

Email: jwedenig@unicef.org   Pretoria@unicef.org

Tel: 012 425 4700

 

Dear Mr Wedenig,

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Re: Partnering to Protect Children from Violence: Humane Education and GC26 Para 35

 

I write to wish you well on your appointment as Country Representative for UNICEF South Africa, and to introduce myself and our organisation, The Humane Education Trust (HET). As a registered Public Benefit Organisation, HET seeks to be a constructive and values-aligned contributor to UNICEF’s vital work for children in South Africa and beyond.

 

Your interest in, or endorsement of, our work would be deeply appreciated.

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About The Humane Education Trust
HET’s work with South Africa’s children spans more than three decades. In the early post-apartheid period, we were invited by the Department of Basic Education to contribute to the inclusion of humane education in the Learning Areas of Life Skills and Life Orientation in the new curriculum which was under development at that stage.

Over the subsequent years, 34 of our educational resources have been approved by the Department of Basic Education as LTSM materials and are purchased for school libraries across the country. Several are included in the 2026/27 LTSM catalogue for Mpumalanga Province.

HET also reaches out to schools independently and indeed, all lesson plans, classroom activities and other resources are freely available to teachers for download at www.naturebased.education Many are in mother-tongue languages.

Between January 2022 and December 2025, the platform reached:

• 472 teachers

• 440 schools

• 62 919 learners

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Alignment with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
HET’s efforts gained renewed international relevance following the adoption of General Comment 26 (GC26) by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on 18 September 2023. Of particular significance is paragraph 35, which calls for the protection of children from exposure to all forms of violence, including violence against animals. This historic clarification brings animal welfare explicitly into the child-rights domain, recognising that violence against animals can be as damaging to a child as violence directed at humans. ​​

Definitive research by the European Link Coalition at Teesside University confirms that exposure to violence of any kind during childhood may cause lifelong psychological harm and contribute to mental-health challenges in adulthood.

 

UNESCO engagement

In 2024, HET was invited to present to a UNESCO Committee meeting in Pretoria on the impact of violence against animals on young minds. On that occasion, Dr Julie Reddy, Deputy Chair of the South African National Commission for UNESCO, observed:

 

“If we teach children about care and respect for others – it doesn’t matter who they are or what they are – respect for the diversity that we find ourselves in, we will be a much, much better country, and we will learn compassion.”

Why humane education matters

Children are born with a natural empathy for sentient animals. Over time, however, cultural and societal influences often erode this empathy, replacing it with objectification and indifference. This gradual numbing of compassion extends into family life and broader society. In a country as burdened by domestic and societal violence as South Africa, humane education plays a crucial preventative role in fostering care, respect for life, and non-violence. In a continued endeavour to rekindle care and respect for all life, HET will launch our 2026 series of classroom lesson plans and activities on 9 January 2026, shortly before the start of the first school term.

Of additional interest, a recent survey among first-year sociology students at the University of the Western Cape revealed that 74% did not understand animals to be sentient, while 100% expressed the wish that animal sentience had been taught at high-school level. This finding is reported in our latest issue of Animal Voice magazine (See www.animalvoice.org).

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Request for UNICEF support

UNICEF is uniquely positioned to champion the protection of children through policy influence, awareness-raising and the encouragement of legislative alignment with international standards such as GC26.

HET’s objective for 2026 is to double our reach into classrooms across South Africa and beyond, and ultimately to see GC26 paragraph 35 embedded and implemented in domestic law. In this context, a brief quote of support or endorsement from UNICEF South Africa would be an immense encouragement and would be proudly displayed on our website.

We have taken the liberty of adding you to our mailing list so that you may receive our classroom activities and lesson plans during 2026, should you wish to share them with colleagues.

Thank you for considering this introduction and our request. I would welcome the opportunity to engage further.

 

Kind regards,

Louise van der Merwe

Editor | Animal Voice

Managing Trustee | The Humane Education Trust

Director | Nature-Based Education, Cape Town, South Africa

Mobile | 082 457 9177

Email | education@naturebased.online | avoice@yebo.co.za

Website | https://www.naturebased.education/ | https://www.animalvoice.org/