Our Stakeholder report to South Africa’s Universal Periodic Review, led by Professor Jon Yorke, makes specific recommendations to the government regarding three key issues: (1) Racism and Hate Crimes, (2) HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment, and (3) Child, Early, and Forced Marriage.
Researchers
Consultancy background
This report focuses upon the Government’s international commitments and assesses the extent to which supported recommendations in the UPR third cycle in 2017 have been implemented. Three themes are focused upon: (1) Racism and Hate Crimes, (2) HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment, and (3) Child, Early, and Forced Marriage.
Download the stakeholder report
On 23rd August 2022, the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published its Stakeholder Summary Report for South Africa, which cited the Stakeholder Report submitted by UPR Project at BCU:
“UPR-BCU recommended that South Africa ratify the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on a communications procedure.” (Para 12)
“UPR-BCU recommended that South Africa incorporate into domestic law the individual complaints and inquiry procedures under the Optional Protocols to the A/HRC/WG.6/41/ZAF/3 3 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.” (Para 13)
“UPR-BCU recommended that South Africa ensure that national law is in full compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and organise a country visit of the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance.” (Para 15)
“Two stakeholders noted high rates of HIV/AIDS infections. UPR-BCU recommended that South Africa invest in broader access to HIV/AIDS treatment, prioritise school sex education, and invest more in awareness-raising.” (Para 37)
“JS17 and UPR-BCU recommended that the Government reform cultural attitudes that perpetuate early marriage, ensure that law enforcement implements the laws prohibiting child and forced marriages, and capacitate traditional authorities to combat child marriages. UPR-BCU recommended to harmonize all marriage laws to delineate a minimum age of 18 years.” (Para 59)
(Outcome of the review yet to be published)
About the UPR Project at BCU
The Centre for Human Rights (CHR) has been engaging with the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) since 2016. Under the auspice of the Human Rights Council, the UPR is an intergovernmental process providing a review of the human rights record of all Member States.
Through the UPR Project at BCU, the CHR we engage with the UPR through taking part in the UPR Pre-sessions, providing capacity building for UPR stakeholders and National Human Rights Institutions, and the filing of stakeholder reports in selected sessions. The UPR Project is designed to help meet the challenges facing the safeguarding of human rights around the world, and to help ensure that UPR recommendations are translated into domestic legal change in member state parliaments.
We fully support the UPR ethos of encouraging the sharing of best practice globally to protect everyone's human rights. The UPR Project at BCU engages with the UPR regularly as a stakeholder, having submitted numerous reports and been cited by the OHCHR.