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Is the emotional security of children adequately safeguarded in South African divorce law and procedure? An appraisal of how divorce law and procedure in South Africa can be adjusted to fully cater to and protect the emotional security of children during divorce proceedings

Children, defined as those below the age of 18 by article 1 of the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), are a particularly vulnerable group as a result of their limited legal capacity and autonomy. As a consequence of this, legal rules and procedure in domestic jurisdicti...

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Main Author: Chimwendo, Tamanda
Other Authors: Lutchman, Salona
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Public Law 2025
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access_status_str Open Access
author Chimwendo, Tamanda
author2 Lutchman, Salona
author_browse Chimwendo, Tamanda
Lutchman, Salona
author_facet Lutchman, Salona
Chimwendo, Tamanda
author_sort Chimwendo, Tamanda
collection Thesis
description Children, defined as those below the age of 18 by article 1 of the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), are a particularly vulnerable group as a result of their limited legal capacity and autonomy. As a consequence of this, legal rules and procedure in domestic jurisdictions as well as internationally have been developed to specifically protect the interests of children in any and all matters involving children. Divorce, while ordinarily an action involving those with full legal capacity, can be a matter involving children should there be children of the dissolving marriage. Therefore, there is an obligation grounded in the best interests of the child principle, (provided for by article 3 of the CRC), to develop divorce law and procedure in a manner that highlights and protects the best interests of children. The best interests of the child, as per the 2013 General Comment no. 14, is a multifaceted principle, rule, and independent right involving various elements. Given that an expected and significant effect of divorce on the children of divorce is an emotional toll and a state of emotional insecurity, the focus of this research is the development of divorce law and procedure highlighting and protecting the best interests of the children with a specific focus on the emotional security interest of the child. The main argument of this paper asserts that current divorce law and procedure in the Republic of South Africa does not adequately protect the emotional security interest of children on the threshold placed by international law standards, by the South African constitution, and by domestic South African legislation
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
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provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2025
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/40839 Is the emotional security of children adequately safeguarded in South African divorce law and procedure? An appraisal of how divorce law and procedure in South Africa can be adjusted to fully cater to and protect the emotional security of children during divorce proceedings Chimwendo, Tamanda Lutchman, Salona public law Children, defined as those below the age of 18 by article 1 of the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), are a particularly vulnerable group as a result of their limited legal capacity and autonomy. As a consequence of this, legal rules and procedure in domestic jurisdictions as well as internationally have been developed to specifically protect the interests of children in any and all matters involving children. Divorce, while ordinarily an action involving those with full legal capacity, can be a matter involving children should there be children of the dissolving marriage. Therefore, there is an obligation grounded in the best interests of the child principle, (provided for by article 3 of the CRC), to develop divorce law and procedure in a manner that highlights and protects the best interests of children. The best interests of the child, as per the 2013 General Comment no. 14, is a multifaceted principle, rule, and independent right involving various elements. Given that an expected and significant effect of divorce on the children of divorce is an emotional toll and a state of emotional insecurity, the focus of this research is the development of divorce law and procedure highlighting and protecting the best interests of the children with a specific focus on the emotional security interest of the child. The main argument of this paper asserts that current divorce law and procedure in the Republic of South Africa does not adequately protect the emotional security interest of children on the threshold placed by international law standards, by the South African constitution, and by domestic South African legislation 2025-01-28T10:43:01Z 2025-01-28T10:43:01Z 2024 2025-01-28T08:15:29Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters LLM http://hdl.handle.net/11427/40839 eng application/pdf Department of Public Law Faculty of Law University of Cape Town
spellingShingle public law
Chimwendo, Tamanda
Is the emotional security of children adequately safeguarded in South African divorce law and procedure? An appraisal of how divorce law and procedure in South Africa can be adjusted to fully cater to and protect the emotional security of children during divorce proceedings
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Is the emotional security of children adequately safeguarded in South African divorce law and procedure? An appraisal of how divorce law and procedure in South Africa can be adjusted to fully cater to and protect the emotional security of children during divorce proceedings
title_full Is the emotional security of children adequately safeguarded in South African divorce law and procedure? An appraisal of how divorce law and procedure in South Africa can be adjusted to fully cater to and protect the emotional security of children during divorce proceedings
title_fullStr Is the emotional security of children adequately safeguarded in South African divorce law and procedure? An appraisal of how divorce law and procedure in South Africa can be adjusted to fully cater to and protect the emotional security of children during divorce proceedings
title_full_unstemmed Is the emotional security of children adequately safeguarded in South African divorce law and procedure? An appraisal of how divorce law and procedure in South Africa can be adjusted to fully cater to and protect the emotional security of children during divorce proceedings
title_short Is the emotional security of children adequately safeguarded in South African divorce law and procedure? An appraisal of how divorce law and procedure in South Africa can be adjusted to fully cater to and protect the emotional security of children during divorce proceedings
title_sort is the emotional security of children adequately safeguarded in south african divorce law and procedure an appraisal of how divorce law and procedure in south africa can be adjusted to fully cater to and protect the emotional security of children during divorce proceedings
topic public law
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/40839
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