Monday 09 September

GOVERNMENT FAILURE TO PROTECT LEARNERS FROM SEXUAL ABUSE IN SCHOOLS

24 May 2012

Lawyers against Abuse (LvA) and SECTION27 are horrified by the pervasive and endemic sexual violence perpetrated by staff against learners in South African schools. We are particularly concerned that we are seeing a systemic failure to protect and respect the victim and to punish the perpetrator in such cases. We call upon the justice system, the police, the Department of Education, the South African Council of Educators, trade union movements and teachers and management to whom this violence is reported in schools across the country to improve the response to this violence and to cease protecting teachers who commit acts of sexual violence against learners.

Working Group on Sexual Offences submission on Criminal Law Amendment Bill, 2005

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Bill

The National Working Group on the Sexual Offences Bill made a submission on 30 October 2005. This submission begins by explaining why violence against women is an obstacle to the socio-economic development of South Africa. It then provides statistics on the extent of the problem before setting out the policies and laws which have been developed to address violence against women, or gender-based violence.

Compulsory Testing of Alleged Sexual Offenders Bill, 2003

The arguments and recommendations in this submission are based on a number of human rights and public health considerations. In particular we have focused on the following four areas: the rights of the survivor of sexual assault; the rights of the accused; theimpact of the draft bill on public health measures to limit spread of HIV; and the impact of the bill on state services for survivors of sexual assault. These are not isolated concerns, being interrelated and having an impact on each other.

WDA