Professor Ann Skelton

Position, academic and professional qualifications

Professor Ann Skelton is currently the Director of the Centre for Child Law; she has held this position since 2008. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in 1981 at the University of Natal. She went on to complete her LLB degree in 1998 at the same University. In 2005 she graduated from the University of Pretoria with an LLD degree. The title of her LLD thesis was “The Influence of the Theory and Practice of Restorative Justice in South Africa with Special Reference to Child Justice”.

Academic and professional experience

From 1986 to 1988 Prof Skelton served as a Public Prosecutor with the Department of Justice. She was admitted as an Advocate of the High Court in 1988. Between 1988 and 1999 Prof Skelton worked for Lawyers for Human Rights holding different positions, namely Regional Director for the Pietermaritzburg Region, Director of the Applied Criminal Justice Project and National Co-ordinator in the Child Rights Project. Prof Skelton left Lawyers for Human Rights to take up a position as National Project Co-ordinator of the UN Child Justice Project in 1999 and held that position until 2003. In August 2003 Prof Skelton was appointed in the Children’s Litigation Project at the Centre for Child Law where she held the position of Project Co-ordinator. In 2008 she was appointed Director of the Centre for Child Law. Prof Skelton has also undertaken consultancy work for UNICEF in many different countries. Her other professional expertise includes fundraising and fund management, legal drafting and policy-making, litigation, being editor and member of editorial committees, external examiner at other universities, and lecturing.

Teaching activities

Prof Skelton presents lectures in the following academic programmes at the University of Pretoria:

• Final year LLB elective in Child Law
• LLM programme in Child Law 
• LLM programmes in Human Rights and Criminal Law 

Representative publications

• Skelton A ‘How far will the courts go in ensuring the right to a basic education?’ 2012 (27) Southern African Public Law 392-408
• Skelton A and Courtenay M ‘The impact of children’s rights on criminal justice’ 2012 (1) South African Journal of Criminal Law 180-193
• Skelton A ‘Kinship care and cash grants: In search of sustainable solutions for children living with members of their extended families in South Africa’ 2012 International Survey of Family Law Journal 333-345
• Skelton A ‘From Cook County to Pretoria: A long walk to justice for children’ 2011 6(2) Northwestern Journal of Law and Social Policy 414-427
• Skelton A  ‘Girls’ socio-economic rights in South Africa’ 2010 26(1) South African Journal on Human Rights 141-163
• Skelton A ‘Face to Face: Sachs on Restorative Justice’ 2010 25(1) Southern African Public Law 94-107
• Skelton A “The development of a fledgling child rights jurisprudence in Eastern and Southern Africa based on international and regional instruments” 2009 9(2) African Human Rights Law Journal 482-501
• Skelton A “Fear for children or fear of children? Child Justice Bill breaches the divide” 2009 22(1) Acta Criminologica Editorial (i) - (iv)
• Skelton A “Case note: S v M (Centre for Child Law as Amicus Curiae)” 2008 (1) Constitutional Court Review 351-368
• Skelton A and Gallinetti J “A Long and Winding Road: The Child Justice Bill and Civil Society Advocacy” (15) 2008 SA Crime Quarterly 3-10
• Skelton A and Batley M “Restorative justice: A contemporary South African review” 2008 21 (3) Acta Criminologica 37-51
• Skelton A “Tapping indigenous knowledge: Traditional conflict resolution, restorative justice and the denunciation of crime in South Africa” 2007 Acta Juridica 228-246

Areas of specialisation

Prof Skelton’s specialises in Children and the Law, Restorative Justice, and Child Justice.

Academic membership

Prof Skelton is a member of a number of international and national bodies including: the International Association of Youth and Family Judges and Magistrates, the South African Human Rights Commission section 5 on Children and Education, the Board of Lawyers for Human Rights (South Africa), the Board of the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention (South Africa).

Awards

Prof Skelton was awarded the World's Children's Honorary Prize in May 2012. She was awarded the prize for her dedication and fight for the rights of children in South Africa.

Tel: +27 12 420-4502

Fax: +27 12 420-4499

E-mail: ann.skelton@up.ac.za