Page:Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act 2007.pdf/3

4 No. 30599

Act No. 32, 2007 * providing the South African Police Service with new investigative tools when investigating sexual offences or other offences involving the HIV status of the perpetrator;
 * providing our courts with extra-territorial jurisdiction when hearing matters relating to sexual offences;
 * providing certain services to certain victims of sexual offences, inter alia, to minimise or, as far as possible, eliminate secondary traumatisation, including affording a victim of certain sexual offences the right to require that the alleged perpetrator be tested for his or her HIV status and the right to receive Post Exposure Prophylaxis in certain circumstances;
 * establishing and regulating a National Register for Sex Offenders;
 * further regulating procedures, defences and other evidentiary matters in the prosecution and adjudication of sexual offences;
 * making provision for the adoption of a national policy framework regulating all matters in this Act, including the manner in which sexual offences and related matters must be dealt with uniformly, in a co-ordinated and sensitive manner, by all Government departments and institutions and the issuing of national instructions and directives to be followed by the law enforcement agencies, the national prosecuting authority and health care practitioners to guide the implementation, enforcement and administration of this Act in order to achieve the objects of the Act;
 * making interim provision relating to the trafficking in persons for sexual purposes; and
 * to provide for matters connected therewith.

WHEREAS the commission of sexual offences in the Republic is of grave concern, as it has a particularly disadvantageous impact on vulnerable persons, the society as a whole and the economy;

WHEREAS women and children, being particularly vulnerable, are more likely to become victims of sexual offences, including participating in adult prostitution and sexual exploitation of children;

WHEREAS the prevalence of the commission of sexual offences in our society is primarily a social phenomenon, which is reflective of deep-seated, systemic dysfunctionality in our society, and that legal mechanisms to address this social phenomenon are limited and are reactive in nature, but nonetheless necessary;

WHEREAS the South African common law and statutory law do not deal adequately, effectively and in a non-discriminatory manner with many aspects relating to or associated with the commission of sexual offences, and a uniform and co-ordinated approach to the implementation of and service delivery in terms of the laws relating to sexual offences is not consistently evident in Government; and thereby which, in too many instances, fails to provide adequate and effective protection to the victims of sexual offences thereby exacerbating their plight through secondary victimisation and traumatisation;

WHEREAS several international legal instruments, including the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 1979, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989, place obligations on the Republic towards the combating and, ultimately, eradicating of abuse and violence against women and children;

AND WHEREAS the Bill of Rights in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, enshrines the rights of all people in the Republic of South Africa, including the right to equality, the right to privacy, the right to dignity, the right to freedom and