South Africa is reviewing legislation and has established 175 specialised police units to strengthening law enforcement measures dealing directly with violence against women and children, says Minister for Women, Children and People with Disabilities Lulu Xingwana.
Minister Xingwana was presenting SA’s report to the United Nation’s Committee on the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in Geneva, Switzerland at the weekend (Friday, March 21).
CEDAW is an international human rights treaty that focuses on the protection and promotion of rights and interest of women and sets forth guidelines on how to achieve those rights. In compliance with this treaty, SA has made unprecedented progress in advancing women in the area of political representation and decision-making and has achieved international targets on access to education for girl-children.
As part of its national priority of combating crime, SA is strengthening measures to deal with incidents of violence against women. The Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Units have been re-introduced to conduct specialised investigations and detection on all types of sexual offences, serious cases of domestic violence and child abuse and protection cases.
“This is to ensure effective access to justice. At least 175 of the targeted 176 units are fully functional and staffed with personnel at senior management levels to provide the required impetus. Furthermore, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation has been established to provide capacity for special investigation on human trafficking. This includes trafficking of women and children for sexual and labour purposes,” Minister Xingwana told the Committee.
As part of interventions against harmful traditional practices, Minister Xingwana said the SA Law Reform Commission is investigating the development of a specific legislation that will create a special offence relating to “Ukuthwala” – a practice where young girls are abducted and forced into marriage with adult men.
Minister Xingwana told the Committee that Government is also in the process of amending the Refugee Act and Immigration Act to incorporate the rights of women. The Refugee Act amended the application processes for asylum seekers and migration permits to allow women to apply as individuals.
Minister Xingwana told the committee that SA has developed registers aimed at protecting women and children against sexual offences and abuse (known as the Sexual Offenders Register and the Child Abuse Register).
“Data on the Child Abuse register will enable employers to vet applications and ensure that convicted child abusers (including sex offenders) are not employed into positions where they are in contact with children. Similarly data on the Sexual Offences register will be drawn from recorded convictions of sexual offenders to include situations where victims are adult women,” said Minister Xingwana.
The Committee, made up of 23 experts from across the world, is charged with ensuring that all countries meet their obligations under CEDAW.
Contact:
Sibani Mngadi
Cell: 082 772 0161
