Home Affairs on compliance with child travel requirements
5 August 2015
The Department of Home Affairs is satisfied that residents and foreign nationals are complying with new child travel requirements that took effect on 1 June 2015, largely to promote enforcement of the Children’s Act and Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act.
Perceptions that new requirements are impossible or impractical to enforce hold no water. People are complying in spite of misinformation and the ‘talking-down’ of South Africa that has been happening. Observing measures for protecting children helps in ensuring minors receive consent of parents or guardians before travelling, in accordance with national legislation and international obligations for combatting abduction and trafficking in persons.
Although a multi-year comparison aids analysis of movement, and winter school holidays may have an impact on volumes, we had looked at June and July 2015 since this is when child travel requirements kicked-in. Data on non-compliance with travel requirements is for those who reported to a port of entry, and does not include persons off-loaded by airlines.
According to DHA data systems for recording arrivals and departures at ports of entry, for June 2015, 132 353 children were processed, both arrivals and departures. Of these, 1 878 were recorded as having not met requirements, placing compliance levels at 98%. June Arrival of foreign children was around 57 436, with departures at 74,917.