Kenewendo wants age of consent raised to 18
Oarabile Mosikare | Tuesday December 20, 2016 18:00
The motion wants Parliament to resolve to amend the provisions of the Penal Code (Cap 08:01) to be in line with the provisions of the Children’s Act (Cap 28: 01).
In a brief interview, the youthful legislator said the motion would “probably only be deliberated on next year during budget session”.
While the Penal Code puts the age of consent at 16, the Children’s Act states that a child is anyone below the age of 18. This inconsistency has had activists, and of late the social movement named #IshallNotForget, calling for the amendment of the Penal Code to raise age of consent to 18.
According to Section 147 of the Penal Code, “any person who unlawfully and carnally knows any girl under the age of sixteen (16) years is guilty of an offence and is liable to imprisonment for life, with or without corporal punishment.
“Any person who attempts to have unlawful carnal knowledge of any girl under the age of 16 years is guilty of an offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years, with or without corporal punishment. It shall be a sufficient defence to any charge under this section if it appears to the court before whom the charge is brought that the person so charged had reasonable cause to believe and did in fact believe that the girl was of or above the age of 16 years or was his wife.”
The Children’s Act on the other hand, not only gives effect to Botswana‘s obligations in terms of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child regarding the well – being of children, but to also promote the wellbeing of families and communities in Botswana. Cap 28:01 of the Children’s Act says a child means any person who is below the age of 18 years.
According to the United Kingdom -ased newspaper, Mirror, most of the European countries have the age of consent set at 16. They include Cyprus, Finland, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland.
But other countries such as Austria, Germany, Portugal and Italy it is 14. In France, the Czech Republic, Denmark, and Greece it is 15. Spain, few years ago had one of the lowest ages of consent in Europe at just 13, but agreed to raise this to 16.
In China, the age of consent is 14 while in Japan it is at 13. Countries such as Brazil, Peru, Paraguay, Ecuador and Colombia all have it set at 14.
According to the article, Australia’s age of consent varies between 16 and 17 depending on which territory you are in. It is the same in the United States of America where it ranges from 16 to 18 between different states. For an African country, Angola, it is just 12.