Prof. Mandla Makhanya (Principal and Vice-Chancellor), Prof. Rushiella Songca (Executive Dean: College of Law) H.E. Prof. Francis Wodie (President of the Constitutional Council of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire) and Honourable Justice Bernard Ngoepe ( Unisa Chancellor, Judge-President of the Transvaal High Court, Judge at the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights)
The Verloren van Themaat Centre for Public Law Studies in the Department of Public, Constitutional and International Law hosted an international conference in celebration of the African Charter from 5 to 7 November. The conference theme was The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the Protection of Human Rights in African Union Member States: Thirty/twenty-five/ten years on – achievements, challenges and prospects.
The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) was adopted 30 years ago, on 21 June 1981 and the Constitutive Act of the African Union (AU) came into operation on 26 May 2001.
Professor Mandla Makhanya, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, said that the recently released census statistics brought about different challenges. One of the challenges is the growing population which is predominantly young. “It is also clear that we are facing a massive challenge in educating and creating jobs for these young people who are becoming increasingly disenchanted with their lot by the day,” said Makhanya. He added that this challenge is continental. It is important that, as a continent, we promote and entrench an environment in which the right of every human being to be treated as a person of worth and dignity is absolutely unassailable, irrespective of their personal circumstances. Makhanya said that South Africa has a constitution that protects every person’s rights and the continent has a Charter on Human and People’s Rights. Yet the rights of people are still violated. “Why it is when this issue of human and people’s rights is so important to us, that on our continent we have perhaps some of the worst human rights abuses in the world?”
Makhanya said that there was a danger that Africans would be defined by their callousness more than they were defined by that which they themselves hold dear, ubuntu. “Can we honestly say that we are practising ubuntu when many of our people are doubly victimised – by the indignity of poverty and a lack of humane treatment?” asked Makhanya
He emphasised the fact that, as African,s we cannot say with any real certainty that we have succeeded in what we have set out to do as prescribed by ACHPR. “Very aptly, Unisa’s vision is to be the African university in the service of humanity. Our values are social justice and fairness and excellence with integrity. I believe that I can say quite truthfully, that we strive to make those values a reality in our ongoing exposition of our vision.”
The Honourable Justice Bernard Ngoepe, Unisa Chancellor, Judge-President of the Transvaal High Court, and Judge at the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights representing the President of this African institution, spoke on The African Court and the enforcement of human and peoples’ rights: Achievements, challenges and perspectives. Ngoepe said for people to defend their rights they needed to know what their rights were and how to protect them. He said there was still a wide spread of human rights violations. “Ironically the situation became worse in many countries after decolonisation,” he said. He added that, in some parts of the continent, the situation is still distressing. He said the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) realised that economic development of the continent depended on the recognition and protection of human rights. Ngoepe said that there were judicial institutions that had been established for the effective protection of human rights. These are the African Court on Human and People’s Rights established by the OAU in 1998 and the Court of Justice. He said there existed ignorance about these courts. “To try and remedy this, the courts have, during the past year or so, embarked on a number of visits to different countries to sensitise people to their existence,” he said.
In conclusion, Ngoepe said that a great deal still needed to be done to effectively protect the human rights of this continent.
*Written by Trevor Khanyile
