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The Centre for Child Law, SECTION27 and the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) made a submission to the Department of Basic Education’s (“DBE”) Draft Guidelines for the Socio-Educational Inclusion of Diverse Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Expression and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) in Schools. The DBE’s Draft Guidelines aim to enhance the rights to equality, dignity, freedom of expression, and basic education for all SOGIESC learners.

The Centre for Child Law made submissions to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee of Home Affairs and Portfolio Committee of Social Development to provide a brief on, and recommendations regarding, various developments in the law regulating birth registration in South Africa. The brief seeks to provide parliamentary decision-makers with a consolidated version of the text of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 51 of 1992 (“Act”)as it currently reads, taking into consideration the latest jurisprudential development.  The text of the Act has been altered significantly through 4 court judgments in the past 5 years. These judgments have declared several provisions of the Act constitutionally invalid, and have either struck them from the text or have read in additional text.

In June 2023 the Cente for Child Law and Lawyers for Human Rights made joint submissions on the  National Identification Bill, 2022. The submissions are based on the two organisations’ extensive experience around access to legal identity and statelessness, as well as thier respective consultations with and assistance provided to marginalised individuals, families, and communities, including children, who face barriers in accessing birth registration, identity documentation, citizenship, and legal status in South Africa.

To amend the Children’s Act, 2005, to further promote and protect the child’s right to physical and psychological integrity; to further regulate the position of unmarried fathers; to extend the children’s court jurisdiction to hear applications for guardianship; to provide for matters relating to the provision and funding of early childhood development programmes; to strengthen provisions relating to the National Child Protection Register; to regulate the care of abandoned or orphaned children by family members; to further regulate the initiation of care  and protection proceedings; to further regulate the medical testing of children for foster care and adoption purposes; to clarify procedures for children in alternative care; to further regulate matters relating to adoption and inter-country adoption;

To amend the Child Justice Act, 2008, so as to amend a definition; to further regulate the minimum age of criminal capacity; to further regulate the provisions relating to the decision to prosecute a child who is 12 years or older but under the age of 14 years; to further regulate the proof of criminal capacity; to further regulate the assessment report by the probation officer; to further regulate the factors to be considered by a prosecutor when diverting a matter before a preliminary inquiry; to further regulate the factors to be considered by an inquiry magistrate when diverting a matter at a preliminary inquiry; to further regulate the orders that may be made at the preliminary inquiry; to amend wording in order to facilitate the interpretation of a phrase; and to further regulate the factors to be considered by a judicial officer when diverting a matter in a child justice court; and to provide for matters connected therewith.

The Centre for Child Law (the Centre) is registered as a Law Clinic and through strategic impact litigation aims to set legal precedent to improve and strengthen laws pertaining to children. The Centre contributes towards the establishment and promotion of the best interests of children in South African law, policy and practice through litigation, advocacy, research and education. The Centre welcomes the Essential Services Committee’s (the ESC) inquiry on whether educators’ right to strike can constitutionally be limited by way of declaring services rendered in basic education and ECD as essential services.

Since March 2011, LHR has operated a Statelessness Project that focuses on legal identity for all persons in the Republic. The Centre for Child Law contributes, within its means, to establish and promote the best interests of children in South Africa and to use the law as an instrument to advance such interests.

The CCL makes the following submissions to the Education Laws Amendment Bill in order to ensure that the proposed amendments are in line with the principles, rights and obligations set out in the Constitution as well as rulings made by the Constitutional Court.

To provide a uniform legislative framework for the structure and functioning of traditional courts, in line with constitutional imperatives and values; and to provide for matters connected therewith.