Saturday, 05 November 2011

Protection from Harassment Bill passed

In October 2010 REACH participated in the public hearings held by the Department of Justice & Constitutional Development.  In partnership with the Women's Legal Centre REACH submitted a report and was invited to present our submission at the hearings.  The Protection from Harassment Bill has now been passed by the National Council of Provinces. The bill is being submitted to President for assent.

The bill provides protection to women who are being harassed or stalked by people that they are not in a domestic relationship with, unlike the Domestic Violence Act that only allows the using of protection orders within the constraints of a domestic relationship.  The bill allows anyone to get a protection order against someone they feel is harassing them whether the person is known to the complainant or not.  The bill also allows certain amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act, 1955 and 1977; the Domestic Violence Act, 1998, and the Firearms Control Act, 2000.  Click on the highlighted links to view a copy of the Protection from Harassment Bill and REACH's submission on the Protection from Harassment Bill.