On 22 June 2011 the Inter-sectoral Child Justice Steering Committee (ISCJS) briefed Parliament on collaborative progress that has been made in implementing the Child Justice Act.

The ISCJS is made up of the Departments of Justice and Constitutional Development, Social Development, Education, Health, SAPS and the NPA.

Thus far:

1.  
   1. Nine Provincial Child Justice Fora have been established.
   2. A National Policy Framework has been developed to guide the uniform, coordinated and cooperative approach to dealing with child justice.
   3. Dedicated staff have been appointed and capacitated, including 111 child justice court clerks, dedicated prosecutors and 484 probation officers.
   4. Dedicated infrastructure has been established, including two one-stop child justice centres and 28 child and youth care centres.
   5. In the year in question 15,588 children were diverted, 3% less than in the previous year. This is cause for some concern.

The primary challenge faced in the implementation of the Act is the lack of dedicated and sufficient resources. Most steps were achieved working within existing rather than dedicated budgets.

WEB LINKS FOR THIS ARTICLE

Click here to view the ISCJS’s presentation to Parliament.