Promoting Human Rights & Rule of Law in South Africa
Why the SADC Tribunal Must Be Saved
10 July, 2012
Next month SADC heads of state and government will convene their annual summit. Key on their agenda is a decision on the SADC Tribunal’s future. The Tribunal has been suspended now for close on two years — a decision taken to thwart the Tribunal’s staking out of a robust human rights jurisdiction. Civil society across the region has campaigned for restoration of the Tribunal. There are indications flowing from the recent meeting of SADC legal advisors that a decision to reinstate the Tribunal will happen in August. The risk however is that the Tribunal’s mandate will be narrowed — that it will not be permitted to entertain human rights cases. That will be a tragedy for the southern Africa region.
We’ve posted a link below to a video produced by dogood films, which documents just what is at stake should the Tribunal’s human rights jurisdiction be cut down. Be warned though, as the footage is often very graphic.
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