A Bright Line Rule? South Africa Debates the Age of Consent for Sexual Intercourse

Salona Lutchman; Christina Nomdo

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A Bright Line Rule? South Africa Debates the Age of Consent for Sexual Intercourse

于Explorations of Childhood

著者：

Salona Lutchman

Salona Lutchman
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Christina Nomdo

Christina Nomdo
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类型:: 章节

Page Range:: 73–83

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9781848884113_008

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The age of consent for sex is understood as a protective measure for children and adolescents. However, consensual sex between adolescents may serve to cast doubt on the bright lines concept of ‘consent’. Section 57 of South Africa’s Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act 32 of 2007 implicitly makes the age of consent for sexual intercourse 16 years of age. However, sections 15-16 of the same law sought to criminalise sexual activity between 12 – 16 year olds (adolescents). Child rights advocacy groups, The Teddy Bear Clinic for Abused Children and Resources Aimed at the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (represented by the Centre for Child Law), found this to be untenable and challenged the law in court. On 13 October 2013, the Constitutional Court of South Africa declared the provisions constitutionally invalid as they infringed on an adolescent’s constitutional rights to dignity, privacy and their best interests given paramount importance. The court ordered a moratorium on the sections to protect children from prosecution, and it ordered the Parliament of South Africa to amend the legislation (The Teddy Bear Clinic for Abused Children and Another v Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development and Another 2013 (12) BCLR 1429 (CC)). The law-making process is ongoing with debates in Parliament still wrangling with the perception that decriminalisation will serve to lower ‘consent’ to sex to 12, even if it is only within their own peer group, and thereby impart the message that sex at a young age is legal and permissible. This chapter seeks to analyse the current Parliamentary debate within the context of international law and global debates and developments on the age of consent. In so doing, the chapter will highlight the current tension between child protection and autonomy rights in relation to adolescent sexuality.

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Explorations of Childhood

ISBN:: 9781848884113

出版社:: Brill

印刷出版日期:: 01 Jan 2016

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A Bright Line Rule? South Africa Debates the Age of Consent for Sexual Intercourse

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Explorations of Childhood

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