centres as well as the increase in number of cases of child offenders taken up by the Legal Aid office. The Committee, encourages the Government to offer representation to more children who need this service. The Committee further encourages the Government to introduce an option of ‘early release’ for the children who are placed in child and youth care centres, just as those who are placed in correctional centres may have the option of parole. 35. The Committee also notes that the minimum age of criminal responsibility is set at the age of 10 under South Africa’s Laws. The Committee notes that chances of a child living up to the moral and psychological components of criminal responsibility is low when the child’s age is also low. Hence, the Committee recommends to the Government of South Africa to raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 12 years of age. III. Protection against Harmful Social and Cultural Practices 36. The Committee notes with appreciation the effort made by the South African Government to fight against harmful practices violating rights of children, inter alia, the campaign against the practice of ukuthwala, investigating crimes relating to ukuthwala and other initiatives around cultural harmful practices. However, the Committee notes with concern the continuation of harmful practices such as ukuthwala and virginity testing affecting rights of girl child. The Committee also notes with concern that girls between 16 and 18 years of age are not protected from the practice of virginity testing. In this regard, the Committee would like to reiterates its previous recommendation on this issue and call upon the State Party to undertake measures with a view to ban virginity testing with respect to children of all ages in South Africa. Moreover, the Committee recommends to the Government of South Africa to: A) Amend both the Marriage Act and the Recognition of customary Marriages Act and ensure that the minimum age of marriage for all forms of marriage is 18 years and remove Any section that provide parental consent exception for a child to be married from all legislations relating to marriage and outlaw child marriage unconditionally; B) Intensify investigation and prosecution of cases of ukuthwala as incidences of girls being victim of this practice currently outnumber the cases investigated and prosecuted; C) Take forward the initiative of the South African Law Reform Commission and enact legislation that defines and criminalise ukuthwala and other forms of child forced marriages in all context as soon as possible; D) Review and where necessary amend, provincial legislation that directly or indirectly encourages harmful practices such as ukuthwala and virginity testing of children; 13