Centre for Child Law urges parents, guardians of pregnant girls under 12 to take legal action
National statistics show close to 1,500 girls aged between 10 and 14 delivered babies at health facilities in the first three months of this financial year.
CAPE TOWN - The Centre for Child Law has urged parents and guardians of pregnant girls under the age of 12 to take legal action.
National statistics show close to 1,500 girls aged between 10 and 14 delivered babies at health facilities in the first three months of this financial year.
Centre for Child Law director, Karabo Ozah, said government should be doing more to educate and prevent such cases.
"But that only really matters for children who can consent to sexual activity. If you're talking about a twelve-year-old and below, by law they cannot consent, and those children are victims of sexual offences."
Ozah said girls under twelve who become pregnant are automatically victims of sexual violence and that it's vital for families of the victims to come forward for government to find solutions to the problem.
"Families of those children must be engaged with in order to take legal steps. Now it also gets complicated because once you take legal steps, then there's the issue of the response of our justice system."