The UN Human Rights Council considered South Africa’s fourth cycle in the participation of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on 16 November, an interactive dialogue that provides an opportunity for UN member states to be assessed on their human rights situation, based on submissions made by stakeholders such as civil society organisations and national human rights institutions.
As one of the longest-serving members of the Human Rights Council, South Africa has been participating in the UPR mechanism since its inception.
Although the country has made significant strides in its participation in the UPR mechanism, there remains a lot of work to be done on providing a comprehensive overview of the actual human rights situation on the ground, especially on the issue of human rights defenders.
Since the establishment of the UPR mechanism, the most common recommendations made to South Africa have focused on violence against women, children, HIV/Aids treatment and discrimination based on race, nationality or sexual orientation.
In response to some of these issues, the South African government has mainly cited the existing constitutional safeguards and its commitment to international standards on the protection of such rights.
This has failed to substantively address the eradication of such issues based on the insufficiency and...
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