Children's Rights Prevail

As reported in the Guardian, Judge Albie Sachs, known as the man behind some of the world's most progressive legal judgments, has made history again by ruling that primary caregivers of children should not be sent to jail, at least in borderline cases.

It was a female colleague, another member of South African constitutional court, who insisted the case against a mother arrested for credit card debt be heard, arguing that the human rights of the accused woman's children were not being looked at separately. 

Judge Sachs recounts: "We could have said the children's rights must be considered but sent Mrs M. to jail anyway, perhaps for a lesser term. But that would not have changed anything."

The South African case is now being cited by courts worldwide.