Public Opinion is Clear: Urgent Legislation Required to Protect Children from Sexual Exploitation! Read the story

South Africa

Members

Jelly Beanz is a non-profit organization that supports children and their families who have experienced trauma, abuse and neglect. They offer direct therapeutic services to children and families, develop resources to support assessment and interventions, offer training and mentorship to professionals working with children, and advocate for service-delivery to children who have suffered trauma and abuse.

Jelly Beanz Foundation

Contact: Mrs. Edith Kriel
Phone: (+27) 21 5562456
Address: 253 Blaauwberg Road, Table View, Cape Town, South Africa
Email: info@jellybeanz.org.za
Website: http://www.jellybeanz.org.za/

Facts

South Africa is considered one of the most popular destinations for travelling child sex offenders in the African region.

South African children are recruited from poor, rural areas to urban centres such as Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Bloemfontein, where girls are subject to trafficking for sexual purposes.

South African law offers strong protection and exceeds international standards for banning the creation, possession and distribution of child sexual abuse materials.

South Africa has ratified all international and regional legal instruments relevant to combating SEC, except the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure.

Resources

ECPAT International
ECPAT Regional Workshop 2023: In-Depth Event Review

Year: 2023

Download
ECPAT International
ECPAT Regional Workshop 2023: Summary and Action Plan

Year: 2023

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ECPAT
Disrupting Harm: Conversations with Young Survivors about Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

Year: 2022

Download
ECPAT, INTERPOL and UNICEF
Disrupting Harm: South Africa

Year: 2022

Download
ECPAT International
South Africa – Country Monitoring Report

Year: 2013

ECPAT International
South Africa – Briefing Paper

Year: 2019

Download

Stories

News from South Africa

Indicators

Age of Consent

Partial

Age of sexual consent is 16 years with a close-in-age exemption of two years.

DH Legal Analysis South Africa, 2020

Extraterritoriality & Extradition

Yes

Active and passive extraterritorial jurisdiction is provided for SEC related offences and does NOT require double criminality.

Extradition requires a minimum gravity of six months of imprisonment and can only take place in the basis of a treaty ratified by South Africa. There is no mention to the double criminality principle for extradition.

DH Legal Analysis South Africa, 2020

CSAM Definition

Yes

The national legislation provides a definition which is in line with international standards.

DH Legal Analysis South Africa, 2020

Background Check Required

Not Yet Assessed

National Commitments

Partial

South Africa has ratified the CRC, the OPSC, the Trafficking Protocol and the ILO Convention No.182.

South Africa has also ratified the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.

South Africa has not ratified the OPIC, the UNWTO Framework Convention on Tourism Ethics nor the AU Convention on Cyber Security and the Council of Europe’s Lanzarote and Budapest Conventions.

DH Legal Analysis South Africa, 2020

Child Advocacy Centers

Not Yet Assessed

SEC Police Unit

Partial

The main police unit including SEC in its mandate is the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Department which also includes a Cybercrime Unit for offences related to online child sexual exploitation. It is unclear whether both offences under national and extra-territorial jurisdiction are able to be addressed by this unit, and whether the unit is fully functional.

DH Desk-based Research South Africa, 2020

Protection Standards Travel and Tourism

Not Yet Assessed

Public SEC Case Data

No

Data on SEC cases is not publicly available.

DH Desk-based Research South Africa, 2020