Pretoria 3 November 1999
What is it about a child that invokes the "Ag-shame" response in us? What makes adults respond empathetically to kids in adverts? What is it that makes parents proudly display pictures of chocolate-besmeared children on desks in their otherwise formal offi ces? What is it about a business executive that makes him fumble clumsily in his back pocket for his billfold to show pictures of his children to total strangers?
I believe that when we look at children we see our future. They are our most precious asset and, as such, they deserve to be cherished, nurtured and allowed to develop in the best possible circumstances that we, as a society, can provide.
I believe that when we look at children we see innocence, vulnerability and trust. Our natural response to children is thus to protect that innocence, secure that vulnerability and to shield them from betrayal.
We need our courts to respond to children in the same way. When a child's innocence has been betrayed, the justice system should respond in a way that recognises that children are special people who need special care - and within the court context - that care should be provided in an especially modified environment.
The Children's Promise Trust and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development welcome you to this breakfast. Today we will present to you our vision for establishing child-friendly courts and creating a justice system, which interfaces with ch ildren in a sensitive and constructive way. We appreciate the fact that you have given up your valuable time to be here to join hands with us in this important venture.
As we have heard, the Children's Promise is a multi-sectoral approach to finding solutions and creating opportunities for South Africa's children in the new millennium. We, government, the private sector and NGOs, will have to ask ourselves how to respond to the challenge of the Children's Promise.
Across government departments, officials will be examining how their institutions interface with and impact on children. We will be looking at children's experiences when they come into contact with government departments. We will be asking questions abou t how these experiences can be changed to the benefit of the child. And we will be looking at how we, ourselves, can change our behaviours and practices within departments to accommodate the special needs of children who encounter our systems and processe s.
In Justice, our particular focus will be to develop child-friendly court environments and to promote the interests of children who find themselves caught up within the criminal and civil justice systems.
Children become involved with the law as victims of crime, as juvenile offenders and as members of families that are in crisis. Do you remember how traumatic bad experiences were for you when you were a child? I'm sure you do, because it is the really go od and the really bad experiences that seem to stay the longest in our memories. Just as a relatively small tree seems huge in a child's eye, so a bad experience looms large in the child's mind, blotting out the sun and erasing the happiness that is suppo sed to be a child's world.
Imagine your child in a police cell. A fourteen-year-old arrested for shop lifting, a fifteen-year-old for possession of ecstasy, a sixteen-year-old for selling dagga, an eighteen-year-old for driving under the influence of alcohol - it happens all the ti me.
Imagine your child in the dock; in a bare, cold courtroom, in the hands of a hostile prosecutor and harsh magistrate, who show no mercy or understanding.
Imagine your child being the victim of abuse or rape. Imagine the horror of that experience, compounded by the legal process that must follow. Close your eyes and think about the clinical examination by a district surgeon under glaring lights. Think a bout the statement-taking by investigating officers in a police station. Think about meeting the abuser or rapist in court. Imagine the weariness and confusion from telling and re-telling the experience to intimidating judicial officers and being subjecte d to pitiless cross-examination by the lawyer appearing for the accused.
Imagine also the emotional pain of children whose parents are locked in the worst kind of marital breakdown. We are all too painfully familiar with the scenario: physical violence, verbal abuse, using the children as weapons to punish one another.
As adults these things are difficult enough to deal with; for children it is even worse. For them, all security suddenly vanishes, the loving comfort of a family home disappears to be replaced by fear, anxiety and anguish at the prospect of a life split b etween two parents constantly at war.
These are the realities for many children. In the past, when children came into contact with the justice system, that experience often reinforced the fears and insecurities that were being played out at home.
Clearly, the burden of transforming our courts is awesome. We welcome the burden. We are determined that, in the future, a child's experiences in our court systems will be as supportive as possible and that we will use the opportunity to interact with t he child and family in a constructive and positive manner.
How will we do this? First, we must give attention to the physical environment. If you go to a family advocate's office, you will almost certainly find that the staff have taken great trouble to create a child-friendly environment. Cheerful colours , comfortable cushions and low furniture, murals, toys and children's books, perhaps even a television.
Creating this environment takes a little initiative and relatively small donations of money or materials from the community to transform a sterile, barren waiting or interview room into a warm and child-friendly environment. In some of our courts structura l changes or additions may have to be made and that takes a little more. In most of our black communities such structures don't even exist, so we have to provide them from scratch.
A key need in our search for child-friendly facilities is the training of court officials who come into contact with children and their families. There is no doubt that one needs a special kind of service when dealing with children. Those who work in the se courts, from judicial officers to administrative clerks, must be carefully selected and thoroughly trained to equip them with the skills and sensitivity, which are so necessary if we are to achieve a child-friendly environment. Specialised education fo r these officials ranges from social context training for judges and magistrates to mediation skills for divorce counsellors.
And finally, the provision of support services is essential. Children in crisis need counselling, ongoing investigation and evaluation. Families in crisis usually benefit enormously from mediation and conciliation procedures.
The subject of taking evidence from child witnesses requires very special attention to avoid the risk of secondary victimisation. Children giving evidence require the skills of well trained intermediaries and special equipment and facilities. The use of one-way glass in witness cubicles and closed-circuit video facilities with links into the courtroom are essential so that children can give their testimony free from intimidation and in the company of an advocacy specialist.
Our needs are many. We need Family Advocates to look after the interests of children in divorce matters. We need Public Defenders to represent juvenile offenders. Children who have been raped or abused need rehabilitative counselling. Judicial officer s often need expert assessors to assist them to make sound and appropriate judgements.
Hardly surprising then that our resources are stretched to the limit and that we are having great difficulty making these support services available.
South Africa ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1995. We have also developed our own National Plan of Action, which addresses issues relating to children. This plan includes a review by the South African Law Commission of all legislat ion that impacts directly upon children.
Project committees were established to review the Children's Act, legislation concerning juvenile justice and the laws pertaining to sexual offences. Members of the project committees have put many hours into research, report writing and holding consulta tive workshops on these matters. Their dedication has ensured that all three projects are well advanced and should result in legislation being tabled in Parliament early next year.
The implementation of that legislation will require the additional commitment of financial and other resources. And that is what the Children's Promise is all about. Those who respond to the Children's Promise appeal will be helping very directly to deliv er the benefits of this new legislation. The justice system will then be able to ensure the fulfilment of our international, constitutional and moral obligations to promote the best interests of the child.
The appeal is structured in a way that makes it simple for individuals and organisations to respond - make a donation or commit the value of your final hour's salary of this millennium. For a person earning R24 000 a year, an hour's salary will be R11,5 0. For a person earning R500 000, the commitment will be a mere R240,50. What better way to help make a difference? What better way to create a sense of common purpose in your organisation.
A pledge form will be sent to each participating organisation for printing and distribution to employees. By completing the pledge form, employees authorise the employer to deduct their final hour's salary or some other cash donation from their salary. And by the way, employers can always agree to match those employee donations - just for good measure!
We have among us today a business that has responded to the needs of children in a unique way. Mr Dines Giwala from the legal firm Hofmeyr saw a need and acted. Hofmeyr has very generously donated R60 000 specifically for training Soweto court officials who deal with children. I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for this extremely generous gesture. I thank you; Justice thanks you and the children of Soweto thank you. This gesture typifies the spirit of the Children's Promise Millennium A ppeal.
I urge you to respond to this appeal. With your help, the millennium will be remembered by future generations as a moment in history when millions of South Africans came together to make a difference - a difference for their nation's future; a differenc e for our children.