Monitoring Project

Since 2005, 15 471 children were arrested and detained in police holding cells across the Gauteng Province and LifeLine Ekurhuleni has played a civilian oversight role by visiting 92 police stations on a regular basis ensuring that these children in conflict with the law’s rights are upheld.

According to section 28(g) of the South African Constitution (ACT 108 of 1996) – every child has the right to not be detained except as a measure of last resort,
in which case, in addition to the rights a child enjoys under sections 21 and 35, the child may be detained only for the shortest appropriate period of time, and has the right to be:
a)    kept separately from detained persons over the age of 18 years;
b)    and treated in a manner, and kept in conditions, that take account of the child’s age;
c)    to have legal practitioner assigned to the child by the state and at the state expense in civil proceedings affecting the child, if substantial injustice would otherwise be result.

This initiative has contributed to positive changes within the South African Police Services on station level with the support of SAPS Province.  Approximately, 95 % of stations are compliant with only approximately 5%  of stations reporting violations such as detention of undocumented children, J7 violations, parents not being informed, age verification and longer detention periods.  This is due to the regular ongoing monitoring of the condition of children in police holding facilities.

There has been a substantial improvement in the conditions under which children are detained, how children are handled, their movement through the preliminary phase of the criminal justice system, and the treatment of all children irrespective of their citizenship status.  This has successfully culminated in approximately a 95 % compliance rate by police stations which detain children in conflict with the law.

This project has successfully demonstrated that government/state and civil society can effectively collaborate on initiatives that best serve the community.  As an acknowledgement of the contribution made by the project it was awarded an Impumelelo Star Award in 2010.