The Faculty of Law (UP Law) at the University of Pretoria (UP) acknowledges with pride that the Director of its Centre for Child Law (CCL), Karabo Ozah, features in an article ‘Sisters in Law’ under the Justice League section of the August 2021 Edition of the Fair Lady magazine, perfectly aligning with South Africans celebrating Women’s Month in August 2021.

Ozah, an attorney, and her team of attorneys, researchers and advocates in the CCL, play a vital role in urging the South African The CCL advances and protects children’s constitutional rights through strategic litigation, advocacy and research. Ozah joined the Centre for Child Law in 2007 and has litigated in a significant number of child rights matters in the South African courts. She appears regularly in the High Court and had her first appearance in the Constitutional Court in 2016. She holds an LLB and LLM (cum laude) in Child Law from UP Law, as well as a UP Certificate in Advanced Labour Law.

Ozah conducts research and publishes in the area of Child Law and lectures and conduct presentations on Child Law and Human Rights around the globe. She is currently a member of the Expert Group on Parentage and Surrogacy of the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law and was appointed by the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola MP, to serve on the Advisory Committee of the South African Law Reform Commission's Project 100D on Care of and Contact with Children (incorporating Family Dispute Resolution) during February 2020.  Ozah's appointment is in terms of section 7A(1)(b)(ii) of the South African Law Reform Commission Act 19 of 1973. 

The CCL, officially launched in October 1998, is a registered law clinic, based in UP Law, and uses strategic impact litigation to promote and advance the rights of children in South Africa. The CCL has had a number of successes in the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Appeal and the High Courts. The judgments obtained have set precedents that have brought about changes in the law, government activities and broader society.

One stream of the CCL’s focus is the promotion of the right to education of all children in South Africa.  Inter alia, the Centre has been involved in cases in which the right of pregnant learners to go to school was confirmed and protected by the Constitutional Court; The Grahamstown High Court ordered that the Department of Education provide impoverished schools in the Eastern Cape with school furniture; and The right of separated children with asylum claims to access education was upheld, after eight children from DRC were refused access to school and the Centre obtained a High Court order that permitted them access.

The CCL has also been involved with high profile cases pertaining to care and protection of children, children’s right to social services, criminal justice and sexual offences. One of the Centre’s cases recently resulted in the Constitutional Court decriminalising consensual sexual interaction between 12 to 16 year olds.

The CCL also advances the rights of children through education, research and advocacy. The Centre, together with other organisations, is advocating for measures to alleviate pressure on an overburdened foster care system. Similar work is done on the registration of child and youth care centres.

A proud Dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor Elsabe Schoeman, expressed her appreciation to Ozah for her sterling work and passion and the continuous enormous role that her team and she plays in litigating for the plight of children, thus making a difference and contributing to society as a whole as a stalwart women lawyer and advocate for children rights across the globe.