Solidarity lodges complaint with UN against South African government over non-compliance with UN resolution
Trade union Solidarity today lodged a complaint with the UN's Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) against the South African government. In it, the UN is requested to exhort the South African government about non-compliance with procedural requirements of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Under the convention the South African government has to report every two years on its efforts to comply with the convention. However, the South African government last submitted a report in 2006.
A similar complaint will be lodged with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). The South African government appointed the SAHRC as national body to act as watchdog on behalf of CERD in South Africa. Solidarity is requesting the HRC to exhort government about its non-compliance with the resolution and, should government still fail to comply, to file an application before the High Court in terms of the powers vested in the HRC by which to compel government to fulfil its statutory duty.
Solidarity also announced that once government was ready to submit its reports, it would submit a shadow report showing that government's affirmative action programme was not aligned with the UN resolution. The resolution makes provision for civilian organisations to submit shadow reports in response to government reports. According to Solidarity, government first has to be compelled to submit reports before it could proceed with a shadow report.
In addition, Solidarity also intends to submit a formal petition to the UN in which Solidarity will argue that the South African government's absolute focus on racial demographics is not in accordance with the intention of the UN convention and that government does not comply with the substantive requirements of the resolution.
This petition will rely heavily on the Renate Barnard case study, but will also have a focus which goes beyond this case. The petition has to be submitted to the HRC as agent of the UN. Solidarity plans to submit the formal petition during the first quarter of 2015. The trade union intends to canvass support for the petition across a broad spectrum of South Africans.
"Testing South Africa's affirmative action programme against UN resolutions is to test it against the world's best practices. To ensure that South Africa complies with international norms, therefore, means to be loyal to South Africa. Our prima facie case is that South Africa doesn't comply with international requirements and that the country is guilty of unfair racial discrimination. South Africa, however, makes it very difficult to make international comparisons if government never submits reports," Solidarity Chief Executive Dirk Hermann said.
"In June this year we corresponded with government for the first time. At the time we were given the assurance that government would soon submit its report. In the meantime, we have also sent a letter to Justice and Correctional Services Minister, Michael Masutha, in which we caution government about non-compliance with the UN resolution. According to information at our disposal government has drafted reports up to 2011, but the reports still haven't been submitted. Even if they are submitted now, South Africa is already late in submitting its 2013 report.
Procedural non-compliance with a resolution is a serious offence. The purpose of the reports is to have international supervision of member states' commitment to compliance with the resolutions they have ratified. If government doesn't submit its reports it also deprives local civilian organisations such as Solidarity to fulfil a proper watchdog role," Hermann said.
Solidarity's UN campaign comes in the wake of the Constitutional Court's recent ruling against Renate Barnard, a former lieutenant colonel in the SAPS, after her nine-year battle against the way in which the SAPS implemented affirmative action. Twice she was the best candidate for a position she had applied for but each time was not appointed because of the colour of her skin. Barnard yesterday announced that she was going to commit herself to the battle against racial quotas on a full-time basis and that she has joined Solidarity's Centre for Fair Labour Practices.
Statement issued by Dirk Hermann, Chief Executive, Solidarity, October 28 2014
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