of poor households. It has also been estimated that for South Africa, the loss of economic output due to violence against women is as high as R3 billion per annum16. Despite these challenges, government continues to implement interventions that are aimed at protecting the rights of women and children. The establishment of the Ministry of Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities replaced National Offices on the Status of Disabled Persons (OSDP), the Status of Women (OSW) and Rights of Children (ORC) and to strengthen delivery on the rights of these vulnerable groups. Recognising that violence against women is an obstacle to the achievement of equality, development and peace, governments at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing committed to strategic objectives, and in October 2009 the South African government produced a report in anticipation of the 2010 Fifteen Year Review of the Beijing Platform for Action. In South Africa, violence against women and children has been found to be contravening numerous constitutionally guaranteed rights, such as rights to inherent dignity, the right to life, the right to freedom and security of the person and the right to bodily and psychological integrity. In its efforts to improve services for the victims of violence, government started the implementation of the first phase of the National Register for Sex Offenders from June 2009. In September 2010, government announced that the national register of sexual offenders had been put in place and so far contained the names of nearly 600 people who have abused children and mentally disabled patients. The second phase of the register deals with the capturing of past convictions and is in the process of being implemented. The Child Justice Act also came into effect in April 2010. This legislation is designed to provide a twin-track child welfare and justice approach that focuses on prevention, early intervention, diversion from crime and the rehabilitation of children in conflict with the law. The South African Safety and Security Education Training Authority (SASSETA) is supporting the development of the Family Law Learnership, which includes training on the Social Context of domestic violence and the Domestic Violence Act (DVA), Act 116 of 1998. Furthermore, the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster (JCPS) approved the National Policy Guidelines for Victim Empowerment. The Policy Guidelines and the National Resource Directory were launched in July 2009. The year 2009 also marked the 10-year anniversary of the National 16 Days Activism Campaign on No Violence Against Women and Children. To mark the start of the campaign, government hosted a National Stakeholder Summit in November 2009. The Summit discussed, amongst other critical issues, measures needed to increase levels of awareness, as well as necessary and effective interventions in addressing the growing gender-based violence and the violation of children’s rights. Government has embarked on a process of reviewing and updating the Children’s Rights Charter to include emerging challenges such as the use of children as subjects of pornography and their exposure to pornographic material. 16 South African Millennium Development Goals Country Report, 2010 50