Experts from the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women praised South Africa for its strong political will to support

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women today concluded its examination of South Africa’s fifth periodic report, with the committee’s experts commending South Africa’s strong political will in support of women’s rights and asking about efforts to curb gender-based violence in the country.

An expert from the committee welcomed South Africa’s strong political will to support women’s rights, adding that the country’s vibrant civil society also benefits women’s rights. Another expert congratulated South Africa on the high proportion of women in parliament. An expert noted that South Africa had made progress towards achieving gender equality, but said that women had experienced high levels of violence and asked the delegation to provide information on services for gender-based violence survivors. Could the delegation provide information on violence, including sexual violence, against women with disabilities, asked an expert?

The South African delegation announced that the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide had been adopted and that legislation was in preparation. The National Prosecutor’s Office had developed a special training model with regard to gender-based violence. A dashboard was created to provide an overview of the data on the femicide problem. It would ensure the completeness of data on issues related to femicide and related criminal cases of gender-based violence. In addition to COVID-19, gender-based violence has been described as the country’s “second pandemic”, the delegation noted. With regard to women with disabilities, the legislation on gender-based violence and feminicide contained provisions specifically aimed at people with disabilities.

Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and People with Disabilities of South Africa and head of the delegation that presented the report, said the COVID-19 pandemic had undone some of the progress made in promoting gender equality, and as a result, women and girls had been subjected to human rights abuses. There was also a “shadow pandemic” of gender-based violence and femicide. In South Africa there was a shared commitment to implement a comprehensive and effective prevention and response program to end gender-based violence and feminicide in the country. In order to adequately counter the extremely high prevalence of gender-based violence and femicide, a national strategic plan on gender-based violence and femicide was adopted.

The South African delegation consisted of representatives from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation; the police department; the Department of Social Development; the Department of Justice and Correctional Services; the Ministry of Health; the small business development department; a member of the Gauteng Executive Council; a member of the KwaZulu-Natal Executive Council; a member of the Eastern Cape Executive Council; a member of the Western Cape Executive Council; the National Prosecutor’s Office; the Department for Women, Youth and People with Disabilities; and the Permanent Mission of South Africa to the United Nations Office in Geneva.

The eightieth session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women will take place from October 18 to November 12. All documents relating to the work of the Committee, including reports submitted by States parties, are available on the session’s website. The summaries of the meetings of the committee’s public meetings can be found here. The webcast of the committee’s public meetings is available at https://webtv.un.org/.

The committee will meet at 4 p.m. on Friday, November 12, to formally close its eightieth session.

report

The fifth periodical report from South Africa (CEDAW / C / ZAF / 5) has been submitted to the committee.

Introduction of the report

MAITE NKOANA-MASHABANE, Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and People with Disabilities of South Africa and Head of the Delegation, said South Africa is committed to the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. The constitution assured that the state must not discriminate against anyone on any grounds, including sex. South Africa had made significant progress in protecting, promoting and fulfilling the rights of women guaranteed in the various provisions of the Convention. The COVID-19 pandemic had undermined some of the progress made in promoting gender equality, exposing women and girls to human rights abuses, including restricting their access to basic sexual and reproductive health services. There was also a “shadow pandemic” of gender-based violence and femicide. Lockdowns had made women more vulnerable to poverty, and an alarming number of teenage pregnancies were recorded between April 2020 and March 2021.

Children remained exposed to various forms of violence in South Africa’s communities and homes, and the country’s periodic report therefore highlighted the major legislative reforms, policies and administrative measures introduced to comply with the provisions of the Convention.

Under the administration of President Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa experienced key moments in defining and developing the gender equality mandate, Ms. Nkoana-Mashabane said, noting that a summit on gender-based violence and femicide would lead to the adoption of the Declaration on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide. This declaration represented a joint commitment to implement a comprehensive and effective prevention and response program to end gender-based violence and feminicide in South Africa. In order to adequately counter the extremely high prevalence of gender-based violence and femicide, a national strategic plan on gender-based violence and femicide was adopted. A report was published in 2021 highlighting some of the progress made in implementing the National Strategic Plan. Resource mobilization strategies need to be strengthened, for example through private sector funding, to ensure full implementation of the plan.

South Africa remains committed to legal reform to ensure that women’s rights are protected and promoted by the country’s legal framework. Recent progressive reforms have included the Criminal and Related Matters Amendment Act, the Domestic Violence Amendment Act and the Criminal Law (Sexual Offenses and Related Matters) Act, and the Amending Act. These three bills aimed to strengthen the criminal justice system to respond effectively to gender-based violence. There were loopholes in the existing legislation that needed to be closed to ensure that the rights of women and girls, as enshrined in the South African constitution, are promoted. One such example was an explicit law prohibiting the practice of early, forced, or child marriages. Anyone who participates in forced marriage rituals could be prosecuted. A developing marriage policy aimed to harmonize the various marriage laws in the country and would expressly prohibit early, forced and child marriages by setting the marriage age at 18 years. A review process of the Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality Act was also under way.

Quoting South Africa’s former President Nelson Mandela, Ms. Nkoana-Mashabane said that freedom could not be achieved unless women were emancipated from all forms of oppression. In its mandate to promote gender equality, South Africa would continue to consciously address the challenges faced by the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asex communities. The Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Development has reintroduced the Hate Crime Act to Parliament to enact it. The South African government remains committed to working with the committee to achieve the common goal of eliminating all forms of discrimination against women. South Africa supported the work of the Committee and the work of other partners such as civil society organizations in fulfilling the mandate of the Committee.

Questions from a committee expert

NÁELA GABR, committee member and rapporteur for South Africa, welcomed the delegation and the strong political will of South Africa to support women’s rights. The vibrant civil society in South Africa also benefited women’s rights in the country. The South African Constitution took a mixed approach to incorporating international law into the country’s domestic law and took a dualistic approach to treaties. This meant that international law was not directly applicable domestically, but had to be translated into national law before it could be applied in court. Was the convention directly invoked in legal proceedings? Regarding access to justice, she noted that positive steps had been taken. How many judicial officers benefited from the training? Legal assistance was an independent legal body and women made up the majority of clients. Could the delegation provide information on the funds made available for legal aid? As for the traditional courts, what did South Africa intend to do to pass such a bill? Could women appeal to the ordinary courts against any decision made by a traditional court?

Responses from the delegation

When asked about the training of public prosecutors on gender-based violence and gender-specific acts, the delegation replied that the National Public Prosecutor’s Office had developed a special training model in this regard. Almost 900 public prosecutors have been trained in sexual offenses. In addition, prosecutors were offered training on other topics, including domestic violence, the feminization of poverty, human trafficking and other topics.

After the training, the number of cases of sexual offenses stabilized.

Follow-up questions from a committee expert

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