Organisations sceptical about the new bill for sexual offences courts. But will it make any difference?

Today the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development met to deliberate on the proposed law that will see courts being set up to deal exclusively with sexual offences matters like rape and child sexual abuse. Members of the Shukumisa campaign were sceptical about its potential to make a difference in rape prosecutions.

2 October 2012: Sexual Offences Courts are not new, “a number were previously established but a lack of clear policy on this and resistance from key government stakeholders such as magistrates saw their gradual demise.” Said Kerryn Rehse from the MOSAIC centre for women.

“Given the regression over the past few years of gains previously made in criminal justice responses to rape and sexual offences and given the persistently high prevalence of rape and other sexual offences in South Africa, initiatives that will strengthen the state response to these cases, including prosecution of Sexual Offences are essential.” Said Greer Schoeman of the SANAC Women’s Sector secretariat.

“We welcome the Committee’s initiative to create legislation to establish these Courts, it can help” says Sam Waterhouse of the UWC, Community Law Centre, “but for this law to make a real difference, it needs to be stronger. Legislation on Sexual Offences Courts won't be effective without a departmental plan in place that sets targets with timeframes, but most importantly, the plan must ensure budget allocation to the courts.” The current budget needed to roll out the courts envisaged by the government task team looking into these courts is completely inadequate to meet proposed targets.

The bill is silent on what must go into each of these courts, nor does it require the departments to develop regulations to spell this out. It leaves the possible development of this at the discretion of the Minister of Justice. “this is a failure of the current bill” says Sanja Bornman of the Women’s Legal Centre, “it means that the Department can avoid setting out exactly what should go into these courts to ensure that they make a difference. Right now all that the bill does is allow for the courts to exist, it does not give any substance to what will make these courts different from any other court. It fails to cement the necessary investments into staffing that are essential to see real changes in the quality of prosecution and support to victims.” She said.

Infrastructure, such as separate waiting rooms and CCTV systems, at these courts is an important element of ensuring protection of victims, however infrastructure alone will have no impact on the important issue: skilful, sensitive prosecution; knowledgeable presiding officers; and victim support services. This requires that there are sufficient, appropriately skilled prosecutors and magistrates working in these courts.

The issue is not simply one of setting up these courts, the more difficult aspect is ensuring that these courts actually provide a better quality service to ordinary courts. This requires commitment to budgets over the long term, it also needs commitment to ensuring that standards for quality are in place and that they are monitored by the department and by parliament. The bill fails to address these aspects.

The development of these courts is linked to other current debates regarding the state responses to sexual offences. “The way in which reporting and performance statistics are recorded is a major problem. While the SAPS seek to lower the numbers of people reporting sexual offences, significant under reporting mean that we need to see increases in reporting not decreases. Improvements in the system from policing to establishment of these courts will make a difference. Tangible improvements in the system should improve trust in it and through this encourage reporting of sexual offences.” Explained Merle Mills of the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce.

ENDS

For comment contact:

Samantha Waterhouse, Parliamentary Programme Coordinator, Community Law Centre University of the Western Cape. 084 522 9646
Sanja Bornman, Attorney, Women’s Legal Centre 083 522 293 3
Greer Schoeman, Project Leader, SANAC Women’s Sector Secretariat, 084 255 4945
Merle Mills, Human Rights and Lobbying Officer, SWEAT, 076 197 5913

About Shukumisa

The Shukumisa Campaign is a coalition of 28 organisations working to prevent and address sexual offences, was amongst the groups which made submissions. The organisations in the campaign provide counselling, court support, training to service providers, legal services, research and advocacy in the area of sexual offences. Members of the Shukumisa Campaign include: Adapt, Childline SA, Community Law Centre Parliamentary Programme (UWC), Gender Health and Justice Research Unit (GHJRU), Greater Rape Intervention Project (GRIP), Justice and Women (JAW), Legal Resources Centre, Lethabong Legal Advice Centre, Lifeline/Rape Crisis Pietermaritzburg, Limpopo Legal Advice Centre, Masimanyane Women's Support Centre, Mosaic, Nisaa Women's Support Centre, Peddie Women's Support Centre, People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA), Project Empower, RAPCAN, Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust, Remmoho, Teddy Bear Clinic, Sonke Gender Justice Network, Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT), Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Programme, Thusanang Advice Centre, Tipfuxeni Community Counselling Centre, Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre, Western Cape Network on Violence Against Women, Women on Farms Project, Women’s Legal Centre.