This is the second issue of the ESR Review in 2013, which recognises and applauds the important role that the youth and women play in our country.
News
A sort criterion
The Community Law Centre’s Socio-Economic Rights project released its “Compendium of documents and cases on the right to health under the African Human Rights System (September 2013)”.
Today the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development met to deliberate on the proposed law that will see courts being set up to deal exclusively with sexual offences matters like rape and child sexual abuse. Members of the Shukumisa campaign were sceptical about its potential to make a difference in rape prosecutions.
Constitutional adjudication in Ethiopia is primarily the responsibility of the House of Federation, Ethiopia’s upper house. In line with this, the Community Law Centre’s Multi-Level Government Initiative (MLGI) and the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) Chair in Multilevel Government, Law and Policy hosted a discussion on "Constitutional adjudication in Ethiopia" on the Tuesday 2 September.
Without strong civil society across sectors and interrogation of broader socio-economic policies, the promise of our constitution will remain outside of the grasp of most people.
On 29 August 2013 the Community Law Centre (CLC), based at the University of the Western Cape, and the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI) officially launched a research report entitled ‘Jumping the Queue’, Waiting Lists and other Myths: Perceptions and Practice around Housing Demand and Allocation in South Africa.
“It is not a secret that much of our Bill of Rights was drafted at the Community Law Centre,” this were the words by Minister Trevor Manuel, Minister in the Presidency-National Planning Commission, when delivering his speech at the University of the Western Cape Yesterday afternoon.
An exciting panel of high profile speakers is expected to spark a conversation on the process of constitution making and implementation, during an International Conference on Constitution-Building in Africa on 6 September 2013.
Community Law Centre's Civil Society Prison Reform Initiative presented two papers which seek to understand gross human rights violations by prison warders on inmates in prisons and how different sub-sets in the South African population experiences law enforcement.
The project seeks to evaluate and identify lessons that both Kenya and South Africa can share in the implementation of the devolved system of government, and especially from South Africa which has 17 years of experience with implementing devolution.
Call for expression of interest to draft the Concept Note for the celebration of the 2014 Day of the African Child on the theme, ‘A child-friendly quality free and compulsory education for all children in Africa’.
It is with great sadness that the Community Law Centre heard of the news of former Chief Justice Pius Langa's passing. The former Chief Justice, a close friend of the late Adv. Dullah Omar who founded the Community Law Centre, was a pioneer of constitutionalism and one of the leading architects of our current constitutional dispensation.
The director of the Community Law Centre, Professor Jaap de Visser, taught a week-long course on Local Government and Decentralisation for the PhD students at the Center for Federal Studies at Addis Ababa University.
On 12 July 2013, Civil Society Prison Reform Initiative’s Clare Ballard from the Community Law Centre delivered a presentation at the Public Interest Law Gathering (PILG) about judicial oversight in relation to the various forms of detention and the importance of the ratification of the Optional Protocol of the Convention against Torture.
Senior researcher at the Community Law Centre, Jean Redpath on national radio, debating whether the National Prosecuting Authority is fulfilling its mandate.
After South Africa adopted the 1996 Constitution with a new role for local government, a comprehensive policy process was conducted to shape the new system in line with the Constitution. This resulted in a Green Paper in 1997 and a White Paper in 1998. These documents were critical in the legislative programme that followed.
‘Jumping the Queue’, Waiting Lists and other Myths: Perceptions and Practice around Housing Demand and Allocation in South Africa report has been released.
Around 35 participants from government, community organisations, social movements, and academia took part to share their experiences and practices around meaningful engagement.
This year marks the third anniversary of the implementation of the Child Justice Act of South Africa and the Child Justice Alliance continues to keep a sharp focus the impact of the Act on the administration of justice to children in South Africa.
This issue of the ESR Review for 2013 focuses on the eight Millennium Development Goals.
Zimbabwe has adopted a Constitution and is getting ready for presidential, parliamentary and local elections scheduled for the 31st of July.
The centre’s Socio-Economic Rights Project recently participated in two events involving the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights during in Geneva.
Professor May takes from Professor Julia Sloth-Nielsen who has been the chairperson since April 2012.
In an opinion article published on AfricLaw, titled, ‘Strengthening children’s rights in Africa: Some lessons from the new Children’s Act of Angola’, Dr Aquinaldo Mandlate at the Community Law Centre highlights some of the major advancements for children’s rights in Angola.
The annual campaign aims to get all sectors of society involved in promoting the care and protection of children.
Prof Steytler, Prof Philippe led a dialogue on key challenges that face constitution makers in Libya and Tunisia during a Policy Dialogue organised by Community Law Centre’s Multi-Level Government Initiative yesterday.
Community Law Centre's Multi-Level Government Initiative scholars presented a series of papers at Commonwealth Local Government in Kampala (Uganda) this week.
In an opinion article published on Politicsweb, titled “The WCape Community Safety Act: Is Zille pushing her luck?” the director of the Community Law Centre assesses the Western Cape Community Safety Act.
The Campaign for South Africa’s Ratification of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, joins other civil society groups and human rights advocates across the world in celebrating the entry into force of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social Cultural Rights (OP-ICESCR).
The Core Team (made up of 7 organisations from the South, 3 from the North, and 6 global NGOs with headquarters in the North) will serve as the coordinating body of the Coalition