In August, Sonke participated in the provincial consultations on the Third Amendment to the Children’s Act of 2005. This amendment contains a host of adjustments to section in the act, ranging from issues about discipline, to the rights of unmarried fathers and the rights of children in the media, to name a few.
The CRPP and PDA teams collaborated on making a written submission on the amendment. Our key interest was to endorse the inclusion of Section 12A, that expressly prohibits corporal punishment in all settings. The inclusion of this section in the current amendment is the culmination of more than a decade of work by civil society activists and government allies to prohibit corporal punishment in South Africa. This stage of consultation and submission on the amendment is an early stage, and we will post updates here on the progression of the Bill through the various stages of refinement until finalised by Parliament and the President.
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