This issue includes two feature articles that discuss various areas of socio-economic rights. It also contains updates on General Comments 3 and 4 of the Committee on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities relating to women and girls with disabilities and inclusive education.
News
The Dullah Omar Institute was involved in a landmark decision by UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on right to adequate housing in Spain.
Online tool to write to your MP to hold the President accountable.
On 28 and 29 June, the Dullah Omar Institute’s Socio-Economic Rights Project hosted a training workshop for community leaders on access to justice. This a continuation of the series Community Engagement Workshops hosted by the institute in 2016.The workshop also offers a platform for various community leaders and community activists with different backgrounds to discuss, network and share their knowledge on human rights and social justice in South Africa.
The Dullah Omar Institute and the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), on 8 June 2017 convened a seminar on SAHRC Research Policy Brief: Challenges in the Realisation of the Right to Adequate Housing for Person with Special Needs in South Africa. This was following a similar seminar hosted on 31 May 2017 by the South Africa Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) in Johannesburg. The presenters included Ms. Yuri Ramkissoon, a senior researcher at SAHRC and Ms. Liesel Du Plessis, senior project manager with Project Preparation Trust (PPT).
On 19 June 2017, Prof Ebenezer Durojaye, Head of the Socio-economic Rights Project at the Dullah Omar Institute, University of the Western Cape, delivered a guest lecture at the College of Law, Osun State University, Nigeria. The lecture was titled: Promoting Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights as Human Rights in Africa.
On 31 May, the Dullah Omar Institute conducted a research and induction Workshop where the Institute’s LLM/MPhil students in Law, State and Multilevel Government were taken through the requirements and expectations surrounding constitutional practice, which comes in the form of an internship.
On Tuesday, the Socio-Economic Rights Project at the Dullah Omar Institute, University of the Western Cape hosted a roundtable discussion on meaningful engagement. The roundtable looked challenges in the realisation of the right to adequate housing in South Africa.
ICESCR Coalition statement on the government's First Country Report to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
This week, South African Research Chair in Multilevel Government, Law and Policy hosted two policy dialogues with Professor Xavier Philippe, the director of the Louis Favoreu Institute of Public Law and Comparative International and European Law at the University of Aix-Marseille, France.
The regulation of land use is immensely complex and it is a process full of competing interests. Municipalities have been placed at the centre of land use planning and management and they have to adopt and implement municipal by-laws to regulate land use. After two years of the implementation of the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act of 2013 (SPLUMA), the Dullah Omar Institute in collaboration with SALGA and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung hosted a seminar on Implementing SPLUMA, which took place yesterday at the SALGA offices in Cape Town.
The Dullah Omar Institute’s Prof Ebenezer Durojaye was part of the delegation making the HIV Committee of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights that recently visited Namibia from 24 to 29 April 2017. The Committee focuses on the Protection of the Rights of Persons Living with HIV/AIDS, Persons at Risk, Vulnerable to and Affected by the HIV / AIDS.
The Dullah Omar Institute’s Prof Ebenezer Durojaye was part of the delegation making the HIV Committee of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights that recently visited Namibia from 24 to 29 April 2017. The Committee focuses on the Protection of the Rights of Persons Living with HIV/AIDS, Persons at Risk, Vulnerable to and Affected by the HIV / AIDS.
Gomhla we 18 ka Apreli 2017, iNdlu yoWiso mthetho yeSizwe izoqwalasela isindululo sokuphela kwethemba kuMongameli. Inkundla Yomgaqo-Siseko iceliwe ukuba inyanzele ibhalothi efihlakeleyo. Kwelinye icala, inkundla yomGaqo- Siseko iceliwe ukuba ilawule phezu kwe impeachment kaMongameli.
The National Assembly is considering a motion of no confidence in the President. The Constitutional Court has been asked to force a secret ballot. In a separate case, the Constitutional Court has been asked to rule on the ‘impeachment’ of the President.
The Dullah Omar Institute calls on residents of Cape Town and surrounds to attend the Memorial of the late Ahmed Kathrada.
The Dullah Omar Institute has joined 64 civic organisations urging the Speaker of the National Assembly to reconvene Parliament urgently.
While section 91(2) of the Constitution makes it clear that the President appoints and may dismiss ministers and deputy-Ministers, the Institute wants to register serious concerns surrounding yesterday’s replacement of ten ministers and ten deputy-ministers. The President must uphold, defend and respect the Constitution and promote the unity of the Nation.
How does pretrial detention affect the socio-economic rights of the accused and those around him or her? In this study, Prof Lukas Muntingh and Ms Jean Redpath of the Dullah Omar Institute’s Civil Society Prison Reform Initiative analyse and quantify the socio-economic impact of pretrial detention in Kenya, Mozambique and Zambia.
Prof Nico Steytler, will assist the government of the Solomon Islands in preparing a new Constitution.
The legal framework for spatial planning and land use management has changed dramatically over the past few years. A new law, the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act now guides the way national, provincial and local governments plan and manage land use. Municipalities are now at the centre of deciding land use applications.
The Dullah Omar Institute's Prof Lukas Muntingh and Jean Redpath were lead consultants in a project to audit Kenya's Criminal Justice System. The Audit found that more poor people were arrested, charged and sent to prison as compared to the well to do. A major concern as per the findings was that, serious offences such as organized crimes, capital offences and sexual offences were found to have the highest rate of acquittal and withdrawals. The Audit called on the N.C.A.J to capitalize on the recommendations for institutional reforms in policing and prosecution systems.
This issue includes two features, one explores if the Sustainable Development Goals are human rights-based and the other looks at the link between fundamental, elementary, primary and basic education. There is also an insightful interview with Professor Sandra Liebenberg.
In this opinion piece, DOI's Lukas Muntingh argues that life imprisonment in South Africa is a blunt instrument, based on little fact, and which has had no proven impact on violent crime rates. Furthermore, it is now imposed for offences that would not have attracted the death penalty, except in the rarest of circumstances.
CSPRI researcher, Kristen Petersen, presented findings of research which sets out the arguments and evidence for the decriminalisation and declassification of petty offences.
Yesterday, the Dullah Omar Institute (DOI) hosted seminar for a group of public administration students from the University of Kehl in Germany. The topic discussed at this seminar was - Constitutionalisation of local government in the Southern African Region: Status, relevance and challenges.
On 18 April 2017, the Civil Society Prison Reform Initiative will be renamed into the Africa Criminal Justice Initiative (ACJI)
The Dullah Omar Institute joins civil society organisations concerned about the state of our democracy in condemning the deployment of 441 members of the SANDF to maintain law and order during this week’s State of the Nation Address.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), one of Pakistan’s four provinces, is implementing a new local government system. DOI is convening a study tour for a group of provincial and local officials.