The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women today concluded its consideration of the fifth periodic report of South Africa, with Committee Experts commending South Africa’s strong political will to support women’s rights and asking about efforts to mitigate gender-based violence in the country.
A Committee Expert welcomed South Africa’s strong political will to support women’s rights, adding that the country’s vibrant civil society also benefited women’s rights. Another Expert congratulated South Africa on the high level of female representation in Parliament. One Expert, while noting that South Africa had made progress toward achieving gender equality, said that women experienced high levels of violence and asked the delegation to provide information about services for survivors of gender-based violence? Could the delegation provide information about violence, including sexual violence, against women with disabilities, an Expert asked?
The delegation of South Africa said that the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide had been adopted and legislation was being developed. The National Prosecuting Authority had developed a specific training model in regard to gender-based violence. A dashboard had been created to gain an overview of data on the problem of femicide. It would provide data completeness in matters relating to femicide and related criminal matters of gender-based violence. In addition to COVID-19, gender-based violence had been described as “the second pandemic” in the country, the delegation noted. In terms of what was being done as regards women with disabilities, legislation relating to gender-based violence and femicide had provisions speaking specifically to persons with disabilities.
Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities of South Africa and head of the delegation, presenting the report, said the COVID-19 pandemic had reversed some of the gains made in advancing gender equality, and as a result had exposed women and girls to human rights violations. In addition, a “shadow pandemic” of gender-based violence and femicide also existed. There was a collective commitment in South Africa to implement a comprehensive and effective prevention and response programme to end gender-based violence and femicide in the country. To adequately respond to the extremely high prevalence of gender-based violence and femicide, a National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide had been adopted.
The delegation of South Africa was made up of representatives of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation; the Department of the Police; the Department of Social Development; the Department of Justice and Correctional Services; the Department of Health; the Department of Small Business Development; a Member of the Executive Council of Gauteng; a Member of the Executive Council of KwaZulu-Natal; a Member of the Executive Council of Eastern Cape; a Member of the Executive Council of Western Cape; the National Prosecuting Authority; the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disability; and the Permanent Mission of South Africa to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women’s eightieth session is being held from 18 October to 12 November. All the documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on the session’s webpage. The meeting summary releases prepared on the public meetings of the Committee can be found here. The webcast of the Committee’s public meetings can be accessed at https://webtv.un.org/.
The Committee will next meet at 4 p.m. on Friday, 12 November to formally close its eightieth session.
Report
The Committee has before it the fifth periodic report of South Africa (CEDAW/C/ZAF/5).
Introduction of the Report
MAITE NKOANA-MASHABANE, Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities of South Africa and head of the delegation, said South Africa was committed to the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. The Constitution assured that the State could not discriminate against anyone on any grounds, including gender. South Africa had made significant progress to protect, promote and fulfil the rights of women guaranteed in the various provisions of the Convention. The COVID-19 pandemic had reversed some of the gains made in advancing gender equality, and as a result had exposed women and girls to human rights violations, including limiting their access to basic sexual and reproductive health services. In addition, a “shadow pandemic” of gender-based violence and femicide also existed. Lockdowns had made women more vulnerable to poverty, and alarmingly high numbers of teenage pregnancy were recorded between April 2020 and March 2021.
Children remained vulnerable to various forms of violence in South Africa’s communities and homes, and the country’s periodic report therefore highlighted key law reforms, policies and administrative measures put in place to address the provisions of the Convention.
Under the administration of President Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa had witnessed key moments in defining and advancing the mandate of gender equality, Ms. Nkoana-Mashabane said, noting that a summit meeting on gender-based violence and femicide had led to the adoption of the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Declaration. That Declaration represented a collective commitment to implement a comprehensive and effective prevention and response programme to end gender-based violence and femicide in South Africa. To adequately respond to the extremely high prevalence of gender-based violence and femicide, a National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide had been adopted. A report was released in 2021, highlighting some of the strides made in the implementation of the National Strategic Plan. To ensure the full implementation of the plan, resource mobilisation strategies must be strengthened, such as through private sector funding.
South Africa continued to commit to legal reform to ensure that women’s rights were protected and promoted through the country’s legal framework. Recent progressive reforms included the Criminal and Related Matters Amendment Bill, the Domestic Violence Amendment Bill and Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters), and the Amendment Act Bill. Those three bills sought to strengthen the criminal justice system to respond effectively to gender-based violence. Gaps remained within the existing legislation that needed to be addressed to ensure that the rights of women and girls were promoted as enshrined in South Africa’s Constitution. One such instance was an explicit law outlawing the practice of early, forced or child marriages. Anyone participating in forced marriage rituals could face criminal prosecution. A Marriage Policy under development aimed to harmonise different marriage acts in the country, and would explicitly outlaw early, forced and child marriage by setting the age of marriage to 18 years. A review process of the Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill was also ongoing.
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 for advancing gender equality, South Africa would continue to be intentional about addressing the challenges facing the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual community. The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development was reinstating the Hate Crimes Bill into Parliament for enactment. South Africa’s Government remained committed to working with the Committee to achieve the collective objective 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 toward the realisation of the Committee’s mandate.
Questions from a Committee Expert
NÁELA GABR, Committee Member and Rapporteur for South Africa, welcomed the delegation and South Africa’s strong political will to support women’s rights. The vibrant civil society in South Africa also benefited women’s rights in the country. South Africa’s constitution had a mixed approach to the incorporation of international law with the country’s domestic law, taking a dualist approach to treaties. That meant international law was not directly applicable domestically, but must be translated into domestic legislation before it could be applied in courts. Had the Convention been directly invoked in court proceedings? As for access to justice, she noted that positive steps had been taken. How many judicial officers had benefited from training? Legal Aid was an independent statutory body, and women made up the majority of clients. Could the delegation inform about the budget allocated to Legal Aid? As for traditional courts, what did South Africa intend to do to have a related bill adopted? Could women appeal to ordinary courts against any decision taken by a traditional court?
Responses from the Delegation
The delegation, responding to the question on training of prosecutors on gender-based violence and acts in place, said the National Prosecuting Authority had developed a specific training model in that regard. Training sessions had been delivered on sexual offenses to just under 900 prosecutors. Training sessions had also been delivered to prosecutors on other issues, including domestic violence, the feminisation of poverty, trafficking in persons, and other issues.
After training had been provided, a stabilisation had been seen in the numbers of cases of sexual offenses.
Follow-Up Questions from a Committee Expert