Pretoria - In a country where children are exploited, abused and hurt daily, the University of Pretoria’s Centre for Child Law stands as a fierce defender of these most vulnerable in society.
Championing the rights of children, they fearlessly take on the State, the media, or anyone who stands in their way as they seek to protect these rights.
Every year from November 25 and into early December, the country marks 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children.
But for the team at the centre, it is a 365-day task. Their mission is to uphold the best interest of the child, no matter what.
Many of the laws in the country pertaining to making life easier and better for children were paved by the legal experts at the centre.
The centre has, for almost 25 years, advanced its goal of “making children’s constitutional rights a reality”, by contributing to the protection and implementation of children’s rights and the national legal framework for the benefit of children’s well-being in South Africa.
“The centre’s work aims to establish systemic change and sustainable impact by developing the law to the benefit of children,” said Karabo Ozah, director of the centre.
The centre’s precedent-setting litigation has resulted in judgments and court orders that have not only developed child law jurisprudence but have also made a positive impact on children’s lived realities.
A 2018 perusal of South African jurisprudence on child law and children’s rights shows that the centre’s cases constitute the bulk of the child law jurisprudence in South Africa.
The centre has kept duty bearers accountable on the implementation of court decisions, as well as obligations set out in national, regional and international law, through advocacy-related activities and research.
Its advocacy-related activities include engagements with government departments to improve their implementation of the law, and with Parliament on the development of the law to promote children’s full and equal participation in society.
“Research carried out by the centre supports litigation and advocacy efforts, which ensures that the centre’s knowledge on emerging children’s rights issues is maintained and informed by substantive research,” Ozah said.
The centre also values the collaborative advocacy and litigation carried out with other impact litigation and children’s rights organisations.
The vision of the centre, as set out in its Constitution, “is to establish child law and uphold the rights of children in South Africa, within an international and regional context, particularly insofar as these interests pertain to their legal position”.
Its mission is “to work towards the development of child law and the realisation of children’s rights in South Africa, within a regional and international context”.
Ozah said that in order to achieve these goals and determined objectives in a manner that aligns with its vision and mission the team makes use of various key strategies, which include Impact litigation, legal advice and assistance.
The centre carefully selects cases with the aim to set legal precedents that improve and strengthen laws pertaining to children in a more systemic manner. In addition, it receives legal queries telephonically, via email, through their website, and through social media direct messages.
“Significant free advice and, where necessary, legal assistance is dispensed in this way. The centre also uses such queries to evaluate the implementation of judgments and to identify strategic areas of further engagement, to ensure that court judgments factually translate into the daily lives of children,” Ozah explained.
The centre also keeps up to date with legal developments in child law and actively participates in law reform and development processes.
It makes written and oral submissions on bills in Parliament and is often called upon by government departments to comment on drafts of regulations and policies that are being developed.
“The centre engages in extensive research to inform our impact litigation. The research is manifest in the high-quality court papers developed by our in-house attorneys, advocate, researchers, at times contracted researchers or counsel briefed by the centre,” she said.
Ozah said the research and writings are used in litigation and in research reports that the centre utilises to advocate further for child rights issues and rendering the research reports accessible to all.
Over the past 10 years, the centre has not only carefully implemented a strategy to develop the jurisprudence on children’s rights, but in doing so, it has built an outstanding reputation in the courts as having both expertise in and a practical approach to children’s rights. Ozah said the centre strived to make the rights of the most marginalised children a reality. Some of the important work planned for this year includes the right to access education for children with disabilities, the protection of child victims and witnesses and children’s rights to environmental and climate justice.
Ozah and her team will also look at birth registration and access to education for undocumented learners.
The centre in the past has worked on cases as diverse as identification of child victims and offenders in the media, to babies swopped at hospitals and to international parental child abduction.
While the centre believed that boys and girls should be treated equally and deserve equal access to assistance, the centre has been involved in a number of matters that concerned the vulnerability of girl children in particular.
These included forced marriages and the rights of pregnant learners to return to school after giving birth.
The team at the centre gave the assurance that they will continue to alleviate children’s suffering and use the law to act in the best interest of those who do not yet have a voice.
Pretoria News