Rights group criticises SA government
16 January 2009, 05:55
The New York-based NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) gives the South African government a pounding in its latest World Report issued this week, saying that its commitment to addressing the barriers to the enjoyment of human rights is "inadequate".
It also singles out SA as a global human rights offender saying that the country used its temporary seat on the UN Security Council to protect human rights offenders, notably Sudan and Zimbabwe.
"Poverty, unemployment, gender-based and xenophobic violence, and crime remain significant barriers to the enjoyment of human rights; the government's commitment to address them is inadequate," the report says.
"Vulnerable groups and NGOs are using the courts to establish the principle of progressive realisation of socio-economic rights as stipulated in the Constitution."
It notes that judicial independence came under severe attack last year but was re-emphasised by the courts, the government and civil society in response.
The reported said the May 2008 xenophobic violence which caused 62 deaths indicated growing xenophobia in SA. Though over 1 000 people had been arrested for the violence, fewer had been convicted and "the climate of impunity allowed the situation to escalate".
It also said humanitarian measures for the victims were inadequate and the government had not yet addressed the longer-term issues of reintegration, resettlement or xenophobic intolerance in local communities. The report also criticised SA's handling of refugees from Zimbabwe, saying that immigration officials and police insufficiently trained in basic refugee law continued to thwart refugees' efforts to seek asylum. Tens of thousands of Zimbabwean nationals with valid refugee claims on the basis of political persecution were deported.
The report also found an excessive use of force by the police in SA, noting a 13 percent increase in the number of deaths as a result of police action and an eight increase in complaints against the police.
"The indiscriminate use of rubber bullets and other non-lethal weapons during public protests - from student protests to service delivery protests - and the number of resulting injuries call into question policing methods used during public demonstrations."
It also said that the government's delivery on health rights remained inadequate, forcing civil society to resort to the courts. "Violence against women, including rape and domestic violence, remained unacceptably high," the report says, but it notes that the Sexual Offences Act - which finally came into effect on December 16 2007, offered greater legal protection.
Likewise the Children's Act and Child Justice Act passed last year offer increased legal protection and rights for children. As it has done before, HRW also slammed SA's international performance on human rights, noting that as a member of the UN Security Council last year it had "opposed or declined to support resolutions for victims of human rights violations in Sudan, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Burma, Iran, Zimbabwe and North Korea".
SA had also played a leading role in trying to stop the International Criminal Court from indicting Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, even though SA strongly supported the court when it was founded.
In his introduction to the overall report, HRW executive director Kenneth Roth says the incoming Obama administration will have to put human rights at the heart of US foreign, domestic and security policy "if it is to undo the enormous damage of the Bush years".
But he also takes a swipe at SA, noting that in the UN and other international bodies "repressive governments have blocked scrutiny and censure for rights violations as too many democracies either stand by or maintain ineffective defence".
"Countries such as Algeria, Egypt and Pakistan, supported by China, Russia, India and SA, defend the prerogative of governments to do what they want by making claims of sovereignty or non-interference.
"Washington has been unable to respond effectively, even where it seeks to uphold human rights, because of its recent record of abuses, mostly committed in the name of countering terrorism, and because it has forsaken multilateral diplomacy in preference for an arrogant exceptionalism."
It also singles out SA as a global human rights offender saying that the country used its temporary seat on the UN Security Council to protect human rights offenders, notably Sudan and Zimbabwe.
"Poverty, unemployment, gender-based and xenophobic violence, and crime remain significant barriers to the enjoyment of human rights; the government's commitment to address them is inadequate," the report says.
"Vulnerable groups and NGOs are using the courts to establish the principle of progressive realisation of socio-economic rights as stipulated in the Constitution."
It notes that judicial independence came under severe attack last year but was re-emphasised by the courts, the government and civil society in response.
The reported said the May 2008 xenophobic violence which caused 62 deaths indicated growing xenophobia in SA. Though over 1 000 people had been arrested for the violence, fewer had been convicted and "the climate of impunity allowed the situation to escalate".
It also said humanitarian measures for the victims were inadequate and the government had not yet addressed the longer-term issues of reintegration, resettlement or xenophobic intolerance in local communities. The report also criticised SA's handling of refugees from Zimbabwe, saying that immigration officials and police insufficiently trained in basic refugee law continued to thwart refugees' efforts to seek asylum. Tens of thousands of Zimbabwean nationals with valid refugee claims on the basis of political persecution were deported.
The report also found an excessive use of force by the police in SA, noting a 13 percent increase in the number of deaths as a result of police action and an eight increase in complaints against the police.
"The indiscriminate use of rubber bullets and other non-lethal weapons during public protests - from student protests to service delivery protests - and the number of resulting injuries call into question policing methods used during public demonstrations."
It also said that the government's delivery on health rights remained inadequate, forcing civil society to resort to the courts. "Violence against women, including rape and domestic violence, remained unacceptably high," the report says, but it notes that the Sexual Offences Act - which finally came into effect on December 16 2007, offered greater legal protection.
Likewise the Children's Act and Child Justice Act passed last year offer increased legal protection and rights for children. As it has done before, HRW also slammed SA's international performance on human rights, noting that as a member of the UN Security Council last year it had "opposed or declined to support resolutions for victims of human rights violations in Sudan, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Burma, Iran, Zimbabwe and North Korea".
SA had also played a leading role in trying to stop the International Criminal Court from indicting Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, even though SA strongly supported the court when it was founded.
In his introduction to the overall report, HRW executive director Kenneth Roth says the incoming Obama administration will have to put human rights at the heart of US foreign, domestic and security policy "if it is to undo the enormous damage of the Bush years".
But he also takes a swipe at SA, noting that in the UN and other international bodies "repressive governments have blocked scrutiny and censure for rights violations as too many democracies either stand by or maintain ineffective defence".
"Countries such as Algeria, Egypt and Pakistan, supported by China, Russia, India and SA, defend the prerogative of governments to do what they want by making claims of sovereignty or non-interference.
"Washington has been unable to respond effectively, even where it seeks to uphold human rights, because of its recent record of abuses, mostly committed in the name of countering terrorism, and because it has forsaken multilateral diplomacy in preference for an arrogant exceptionalism."
- This article was originally published on page 7 of The Pretoria News on January 16, 2009
Johannesburg
