Chairperson’s remarks to the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development on the Occasion of the Appearance before the Committee of the South African Human Rights Commission on the 6th November 2007

 

 

  1. Thank you for the invitation to once again appear before you, to  present the work of the Commission and engage with the Committee on our work, more generally on human rights developments and concerns facing our country and specifically to receive the views, advice and the wisdom of the Committee. Chair, we wish to extend our congratulations to you on your appointment to head this Committee and look forward to working with you and the Committee to advance the human rights imperatives that underpin our constitutional democracy.

 

  1. The Report of the Ad Hoc Committee chaired by Prof. Asmal: We found our appearance before the Committee to be robust but fair and balanced. We have welcomed the Report brought out by the Committee and it is unfortunate that most of the responses, both media and otherwise, have focused almost exclusively on the matter of a single Commission. There are a host of other recommendations that certainly will contribute to stronger and more effective institutions and we have already begun the process of giving effect to those of them that fall within our institutional competence. We await the response of Parliament to the Report.  

 

  1. The main pillars of our work: We continue our focus on the advancement of equality and our mandate relevant to the advancement of socio-economic rights. Apart from the substantial socio-economic rights report we produce, we have in addition conducted regular visits to various communities in our country (both urban and rural) to assess the enjoyment of rights, particularly socio-economic rights and have submitted reports to the relevant structures highlighting matters of concern and making recommendations. We continue to use the modality of the public inquiry to focus on specific issues and in May this year, concluded the public hearing phase of the inquiry into access to health care services. This week, we hold an inquiry into the concerns around evictions in respect of privately owned and financed homes after receiving a number of complaints about process, procedure and substantial justice where evictions and sales in execution have taken place.

 

On matters of equality the Commission continues to take and argue cases before the Equality Courts but remain concerned that the regulations relevant to the promotional aspects of the Act have yet to come into force. Such regulations will provide a positive and supportive framework to promote equality through proactive measures which will complement the protective mandate of the Act.

 

  1. Working with other Chapter Nine Institutions: The Forum of Chapter Nine Institutions, which brings together the SAHRC, the CGE, the CRL Commission, the IEC and the Public Protector, is yet to achieve its stated objective of forging greater co-operation and co-ordination amongst Chapter 9 bodies. I am pleased to report that a substantive meeting of these institutions was held recently under the auspices of the Commission and a further meeting of the respective CEO’s is being planned.  While mandates, areas of foci and internal arrangements may differ there remains many common areas where greater co-operation will not only benefit the various bodies but also provide an integrated and quality service to the public. 

     

  1. Mindful of a lack of both a sharper focus and limited capacity in a number of areas we have appointed 7 Co-ordinators to focus on the following areas: Children, Disability, Non Nationals, Older Persons, Human Rights and Crime, HIV/Aids and Human Rights and Business. The dedicated capacity has seen greater collaboration with both State and non State actors and simply by way of example, the Commission sits on the South African National Aids Council, played a leading role in the formation and launch of the Older Persons Forum and plans to host a conference on Human Rights, Business and Poverty in March 2008. In this regard, we think it essential in the context of inequality and towards achieving a fairer division of labor that we engage non-State actors with regard to their human rights responsibilities.

 

6.       Corporate Governance and other issues: We have put in place mechanisms to ensure effective corporate governance, including regular and minuted meetings amongst Commissioners, between Commissioners and Management and have adopted policies and continue to have training and workshops to ensure we comply with good corporate governance standards.   

   

  1. Work relevant to our international human rights obligations: We have increased our capacity to include the monitoring of South Africa’s international treaty obligations which will include the reporting obligations, matters relevant to ratification as well as where appropriate appearing before treaty bodies. In this regard, we appeared before the CERD Committee last year and are currently involved in popularizing and arguing for the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. This is a substantive area of work which can take up substantial resources – our approach is to make timely and relevant interventions rather than attempt to cover the entire width of South Africa’s international human rights obligations. 

 

The Commission, which enjoys observer status at the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, will attend the next session of the Commission to be held later this month in Brazzaville. We also serve on the steering committee of the Network of African National Institutions, a structure meant to facilitate greater co-operation between African National Institutions.

 

  1. Matters and areas where the support of the Committee is sought:-

 

(a)      The appointment of Commissioners: There are currently 4 full-time Commissioners and 1 part-time Commissioner. The Human Rights Commission Act requires that there be a minimum of 5 full-time Commissioners. It is imperative that an additional full-time Commissioner be appointed to ensure compliance with the Act.

 

(b)      Continuity: The term of all the current Commissioners ends in September 2007. We have alerted both the Legislature and the Executive to the need to make timely appointments to ensure continuity and a proper hand-over, but it is unclear what the thinking in this regard is.

 

(c)      We share the concerns raised by the Asmal Committee around the effectiveness of the Promotion of Access to Information Act and would urge the Committee to consider the proposals submitted to it around the appointment of an Information Commissioner.  

 

(d)      The matter of the amendment to the South African Human  Rights Commission Act as well as the promulgation of Regulations relating to staff of the Commission remain outstanding for some time now, to the prejudice of the Commission.

 

9.       There remain about 22 months before the term of office of the current Commissioners expire at the end of September 2007. We have already begun the process of properly documenting the work of the Commission, highlighting both the positives and the negatives so that we can effect a proper hand over at the appropriate time as well as to fully appraise Parliament.  

 

10.         Notwithstanding the considerable strides we have made as a nation we face some formidable human rights challenges and such challenges are rendered even more complex in an environment where there is considerable contestation around human rights. The foremost of those challenges must remain the continuing inequality that still characterizes our nation and the ongoing need to ensure that the promise of the Constitution, to free the potential of each person and advance human development, is made good. In this regard, the Commission is well placed to continue its role as monitor, as facilitator, as educator and as agent for transformation. We will continue to do so as an independent institution but always mindful that our independence does indeed enjoin us to work with other structures and institutions both State and non-State in the discharge of that mandate.

 

11.         My colleagues and I, the CEO and staff of the Commission regard it as a privilege to work in an institution such as the Human Rights Commission and we remain ready and willing to deal with the formidable but not insurmountable challenges that we must continue to anticipate and expect as a young but thriving constitutional democracy. We also wish to express our thanks for the support we have received from the Committee including those members of this Committee who served on the Asmal Committee.

 

 

 

 

Jody Kollapen

Chairperson