All submissions

RECENT SUBMISSIONS

  • The Right to Sexual and Reproductive Health - Challenges and Possibilities during Covid-19

    The submission was prepared in response to a call issued by the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. The Special Rapporteur invited submissions to inform her next thematic report to the UN General Assembly in October 2021, which report’s focus is “The right of everyone to sexual and reproductive health – challenges and opportunities during COVID-19”.

    The submission by the Unit focused on the provision of safe and legal abortion services during the pandemic, with an emphasis on the opportunity to expand access to abortion services in South Africa, particularly in the public health sector, through the use of telemedicine.

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Shukumisa Campaign Submission to the Universal Periodic Review (3rd Cycle) (2016)

The GHJRU contributed to a submission to the Universal Periodic Review (3rd Cycle) on gender-based violence in South Africa. The submission was made by a collective of civil society organisations working on issues of gender equality, the Shukumisa Campaign. Through a consultative process, a coalition of civil society organisations have identified the ways in which the South African government has and has not met the accepted recommendations provided by members during the previous UPR.

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Submission to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development

This submission was prepared for the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development in response to the call for comments on the Proposed Draft Bill that aims to remedy shortcomings in the Criminal Law (Sexual and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 32 of 2007 highlighted in the judgment delivered in the matter of the Teddy Bear Clinic for Abused Children and Another v Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development and Another (CCT 12/13) [2013] ZACC 35), (hereafter the ‘Teddy Bear Clinic Case’). The submission set out herein is intended to compliment that of the Centre for Child Law (University of Pretoria) et al (hereafter CCL), to which the GHJRU is also a signatory.

This submission focuses on three areas of the Proposed Draft Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment (Amendment) Bill (hereafter ‘the Proposed Amendment Bill’) that was issued for comment by interested parties by 30 October 2014. These areas are:

  1. Section 15(1)(b) relating to the age gap between children involved in acts of consensual sexual penetration with certain children.
  2. Section 16(1)(b) relating to the age gap between children involved in acts of consensual sexual violation with certain children.
  3. Section 50(2) relating to the National Register for Sexual Offenders.

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Submission to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee for Correctional Services

This submission was prepared for the Stakeholder Hearings held by the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services on October 9, 2013 on the Department of Correctional Services and the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services 2012/2013 Annual Reports. The submission highlights the lack of gender-disaggregated data in the reports and comments on the failure to include any information specific to female inmates. Drawing on our research from Hard Time(s): Women’s Pathways to Crime and Incarceration, this submission reports on female inmates’ experiences of incarceration and highlights their gender-specific needs. We recommend that future annual reports disaggregate data on the basis of gender so it is possible to evaluate the conditions in female facilities and the treatment of female inmates. We also encourage the Department of Correctional Services and the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services to demonstrate recognition of incarcerated women’s gendered needs and evaluate whether and how these needs are being met in future reports.

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Submission to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on gender-based violence against women with disabilities in South Africa

This submission has been prepared in response to the invitation by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to submit information for purposes of its Half-Day of General Discussion on women and girls with disabilities, held on 17 April 2013. We set out the general legal framework relating to gender-based violence against women with intellectual disabilities and psychosocial disabilities in South Africa and also report on the preliminary findings of a research and advocacy project jointly undertaken by three partners: the Centre for Disability Law and Policy at the University of the Western Cape, the Cape Mental Health Society and the Gender, Health and Justice Research Unit at the University of Cape Town.

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Submission on the Commission on Gender Equality Act Amendment Bill (2013)

On  13 April 2012 the Unit and various other organisations, as part of the  Shukumisa Campaign, made a submission to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee  on Justice and Constitutional Development on the Strategic Plans and Budget of  the department of Justice and Constitutional Development and the National  Prosecuting Authority. The Submission proposes the revision of the Draft  National Policy Framework (NPF) to address the range of policy gaps in the  DoJ&CD response to sexual offences, including detailed description of the  duties and obligations imposed upon all role players in managing sexual offences  and recommends the development of comprehensive policy around the prosecution  of sexual offences generally and not only in relation to sexual offences  courts. This needs to address questions of court preparation, psycho-social  services, the competencies and training of personnel working in this field, the  infra-structure and resources required to make policy a material reality, the  adequate payment of services rendered (as well as identification of which  Department is responsible for such payments.

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Shukumisa Campaign Submission on Strategic Plans and Budgets of DoJ&CD and NPA (2013)

In March 2013, the GHJRU contributed to a submission to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Women, Children and People with Disabilities (National Assembly), on the Commission on Gender Equality Bill. The submission was made by a collective of civil society organisations working on issues of gender equality. The submission makes recommendations to further enhance the effectiveness of the CGE and strengthen its independence in accordance with the constitutional imperatives of Chapter 9 institutions.

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