HRC to probe Child Protection Register

2013-01-20 21:24

(File) (Shutterstock)

Johannesburg - The Democratic Alliance has welcomed the decision by the SA Human Right Commission to investigate the failure of the Child Protection Register, the party said on Sunday.

"The DA has received confirmation that the SAHRC will investigate the failure of government departments to implement the Child Protection Register (CPR)," said DA MP Mike Waters.

"The DA therefore welcomes the SAHRC investigation into the dysfunctional administration of the CPR and will monitor the progress of the investigation."

In August last year, the DA made a request to the SAHRC for it to investigate the failure of the department of social development to implement Part A and Part B of the CPR.

The DA made the request because it felt that the credibility of the CPR was undermined as it was apparently not updated and contained contradicting information regarding the number of names on the CPR.

The CPR falls under the ambit of the Children’s Act.

Its purpose is to protect children from people found to have abused or neglected a child, and who have been deemed unsuitable to work with children.

It is meant to list all people deemed unsuitable to work with children as a result of previous convictions for child abuse.

Part A contains the names of vulnerable children submitted by provincial social development departments.

Part B is meant to list offenders deemed unsuitable to work with children.

In June, Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini said the CPRs of most provinces were compatible, which would enable social workers to access information from other provinces.

- SAPA