By Gilday van Schalkwyk
Efforts to curb the international scourge of child pornography have begun in earnest in South Africa with the establishment of an ad hoc committee to police this form of child abuse.
For many, child pornography is seen as something that is rife internationally but does not affect South Africa; it is not widely reported so people think it does not really exist.
In the past week police launched an international crackdown, swooping on offenders in Italy and confiscating computers, disks and cds. According to police, 65 other countries - including South Africa - are also participating.
'It plays on the vulnerability of children' Child Line's Joan van Niekerk said child porn was a serious issue because "it plays on the vulnerability of children and their exploitation is abuse".
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South Africa has taken the initiative to launch a Child Hotline on December 10, which will be specifically manned by members of the Film and Publications Board.
The hotline will receive information from the public on the production and dissemination of pornographic material. These complaints will then be handed over to the police for further investigation.
Department of home affairs spokesperson Madiba Thabethe said an integrated approach would hopefully be successful.
"We will be clamping down on child pornography, prostitution, trafficking and victimisation," he said.
The deputy minsiter of home affairs, Melusi Gigaba, has also consistently raised the issue of child pornography and other crimes against children in parliament.
Legislation, passed in November, states that computer technicians have a duty to report to the police if they come across pornographic material stored on computers. To fail to do so makes one guilty of an offence.
Members of the KwaZulu-Natal Road Traffic Inspectorate were earlier this year arrested for their involvement in a child pornography ring.
It was discovered that they were producing pornographic material using government computers.
In the past week a Muldersdrift man was referred for mental observation, after being arrested in October on charges of processing a large quantity of child pornography.
"We are trying to liaise with Internet providers to formulate a mechanism to monitor this crime more closely in the future", said Thabethe.
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This article was originally published on page 5 of Pretoria News on December 02, 2004
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