Children involved in illegal work-related activities

3.5Children involved in illegal work-related activities

Most policy measures addressing illegal work-related activities form part of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development’s general strategy to deal with children involved in criminal activities. This includes distinguishing between activities where children are victims (such as most cases of prostitution) and activities where children are perpetrators needing rehabilitation. It also includes finding alternatives to jailing children.

It is considered a serious offence when children deal in drugs, or are found in possession of larger quantities of drugs and where dealing is suspected. . These child suspects can be held in prison when awaiting trial and, if found guilty, can be sentenced to imprisonment. However if the child is clearly a user rather than a dealer, the National Prosecution Authority's policy is to divert the child to drug counselling programmes rather than prosecution.

The SA Law Reform Commission investigated the issue of child justice, and a Child Justice Bill was introduced into Parliament by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development in 2002. The Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional development has requested amendments to the Bill, which has been done, and the Child Justice Bill will most probably be implemented during 2004, after passing through the parliamentary process. The Bill suggests a change to the way in which drug dealing can be dealt with. It emphasises the need to target the syndicates and adults who are usually behind the children’s drug-dealing activities. In the meantime, an interim National Protocol for handling Children Trial emphasises that children should be diverted from the Criminal Justice system where children acknowledge wrongdoing, so as to rehabilitate them through programmes such as the Anti-Drug Programme in Pretoria Magistrate’s Court. An Intersectoral Child Justice Steering Committee under the Chair of the Department of Justice, also monitors children awaiting trial and sentenced children in prison and intervenes where necessary.

Still, children working with syndicates are more likely to be held in custody while awaiting trial, even if they may act as state witnesses. Where children sell drugs for survival or because of dependency on drugs themselves, the court will convert the trial to a children’s court inquiry at any time before sentencing, even after a conviction. This means that the child can be declared a child in need of care by a children’s court and placed in alternative care by the court, such as in a foster home or a children’s home.

Policy and related statutory measures in the Bill have been formulated to reduce the number of child offenders in jail. These alternatives are referred to as diversion- ‘diverting’ the child away from prison, and activities include community service. Such steps are intended to rehabilitate offenders by keeping them in society but serving it in some constructive way.

In respect of children in prison, the Department of Correctional Services’ policy is that prisoners under 18 years are not required to do manual labour. They are required only to participate in cleaning their own living areas. Children in prison are often bored. Some correctional facilities have educational and vocational training courses, but most have no programmes at all. The situation is often worse for children imprisoned while awaiting trial.

In South Africa, Official Development Assistance (ODA) constitutes a small percentage - around 1% - of the government’s budget. The main thrust of ODA in South Africa is poverty alleviation, and HIV/AIDS is seen as a crosscutting issue in all ODA programmes. Because South Africa is a middle-income country, ODA programmes are primarily targeted at geographical ‘pockets of poverty’. The bulk of ODA therefore goes towards the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo.

A rapid assessment of the programmes of major ODA agencies in South Africa was commissioned to inform the design of the South African TBP. The assessment had the aim of enhancing synergy between the TBP and the programmes of ODA agencies. The rapid assessment suggested that child labour as such does not feature as a prominent issue in the South African country strategies of ODA agencies. Those that have programmes that address child labour directly include the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), Save the Children Sweden, the International Organisation on Migration (IOM), the United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF), UNODC and the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The programmes include the following:

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  Children’s participation in the development of the South African CLAP (co-funded by Save the Children Sweden and the ILO);
  
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  A comprehensive programme on children exposed to harmful labour, as well as physical, psychological and sexual abuse (Save the Children Sweden);
  
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  A study on children and domestic labour (funded by UNICEF);
  
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  Integration of Commercial Agriculture into National Plan on Child Labour – Study on employment implications of targeted procurement (ILO);
  
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  Southern Africa Counter-Trafficking Assistance Programme: Research assessment of trafficking in women and children in Southern Africa (IOM);
  
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  Assistance in the formulation and implementation of the SADC Declaration and Plan of Action against Trafficking in Persons (UNDOC);
  
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  A comprehensive programme on children’s rights and child welfare, including support for the implementation of the new child justice system in South Africa (Sida);
  
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  ILO assistance of the development of the South African CLAP and TBP.
  

The donor-funded programmes most relevant to child labour include among others the following:

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  Support of the follow-up on education for children living in difficult circumstances (ILO and UNESCO).
  
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  Comprehensive programme on children’s rights, including empowerment of children, raising awareness, advocacy (Save the Children Sweden).
  
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  Comprehensive child protection programme, including support for the costing of the Children’s Bill, reporting and monitoring of violence and abuse on children and developing capacity of local authorities to identify vulnerable children and respond to their needs (UNICEF).
  
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  Promoting the incorporation of the rights enshrined in the CRC and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child into domestic legislation in the countries of Southern Africa and supporting the effective implementation of such legislation (Save the Children Sweden).
  
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  Developing capacity of relevant civil society organisations to be more effective in promoting and protecting the rights of children (Save the Children Sweden).
  
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  Implementation of a training programme for OVC, focusing on South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland and Angola (UNESCO).
  
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  Many ODAs have HIV/AIDS programmes, focusing specifically on or including a focus on HBC and OVC.
  
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  Infrastructure-related to energy and water provision for households (GTZ, EU, UNDP, UNESCO).
  
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  Emergency Food Relief (DFID).
  
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  Income generation and job creation (DFID, USAID, EU, UNDP, GTZ, EU, Sida, Government of Denmark, Swiss Development Corporation (SDC), Swiss Consulate CAFOD, Oxfam, Ford Foundation. Two South African corporate donors that also have programmes in this area include the Liberty Foundation and the ABSA Foundation).
  
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  USAID is supporting awareness raising about children’s rights and the support of abuse victims through its Criminal Justice Strengthening Programme. An awareness raising initiative that child labour issues could potentially be incorporated into is Soul City, a multi-media ‘edutainment’ programme co-funded by among others. DFID, the EC and Ireland Aid.