labour through the provision of structural support to address the underlying drivers of the practice. The minimum age of employment is also regulated by the much older Employers and Employed Act (Cap 212), however the provisions are outdated and not in alignment with the Child Rights Act. The GoSL takes the issue of child labour seriously and the various measures taken to address the issue are addressed in detail later in the report in Part 9 under the heading of Special Protection Measures. 3.5 The minimum age of criminal responsibility 95. For many years the age of criminal responsibility was, as per the common law, ten years. That is, children under the age of ten were regarded as incapable of committing a crime, but those older than ten were seen as capable of criminal conduct. The Children and Young Persons Act (Cap 44, 1960) along with an initial Child Justice Strategy developed in 2005 did however introduce a number of special procedures for the protection of children older than ten years, but younger than 17 years in conflict with the law against harm and abuse within the criminal justice system. However, the governing laws, including the Criminal Procedure Act made no provision for special investigation or court procedures for the protection of children in contact with the law as victims or witnesses in criminal or civil proceedings. 96. Whilst the law did provide procedural protection to children in conflict with the law, implementation of the prescribed processes has been impeded by financial, human resource and infrastructure constraints as well as the lack of credibility and trust in the formal justice system. These factors have served to exclude approximately 70 percent of the population from accessing the magistrates, high courts and separate juvenile court established in terms of the Children and Younger Persons Act for administration of the formal justice and juvenile justice system in Sierra Leone. The majority of the population makes use of the informal or local courts which apply customary law. Informal traditional dispute resolution fora, such as meetings of community elders and leaders (known as Bare) for the mediation, arbitration and adjudication of criminal and civil matters have not been regulated by law. Whilst local courts are governed by formal legislation (the Local Courts Act, 2004) they are not subject to the same procedural constraints protecting young offenders in contact with the formal courts. 97. The Child Rights Act remedied the non-alignment of the law governing the age of criminal responsibility with the requirements of the ACRWC and the CRC and filled a number of legal and institutional gaps to strengthen the protection of children in contact with the law. 98. The act increases the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years. It formalizes and integrates traditional dispute resolution fora into the child protection framework and introduces certain procedural requirements to secure the protection of the rights of children that come into contact with these structures, as either alleged offenders or victims or witnesses. In addition, it creates additional child-friendly formal judicial structures for the hearing of matters affecting the protection and welfare of children. 99. The special protection afforded children in contact with the law is discussed in detail later in part 9 of the report under the heading of Special Protection Measures. 3. Definition and Age of the Child (Article 2)  33