JOHANNESBURG - The Teddy Bear Foundation has welcomed the launch of Child Protection Month.
It said children have long been vulnerable to statutory rape.
The organisation warns that many cases go unreported, allowing perpetrators to escape accountability.
"For far too long, we are seeing an increased incidence of not teenagers, I don't refer to them as teenagers, they are children. According to the Children's Act, a child is a child until the age of 18.
"So we are actually downplaying the impact of child pregnancies, it's children birthing children. However, the whole aim of this 365-day campaign is to address the pandemic of the increasing incidence of statutory rape.
"And we know that children under the age of 16, between the ages of 10 and 14, are giving birth to children. Children have been subjected to this victimization where they are not reporting, there's under frequent reporting, under reporting, and perpetrators are out there at large."