Feb 26, 2018 | Events
On 28 February 2018, the ICJ is holding a workshop on combatting sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in Swaziland, in cooperation with Women and Law in Southern African – Swaziland (WLSA Swaziland) and the Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA).
The workshop, held as part of the ICJ’s Global Redress and Accountability Initiative, will consider the prevalence of SGBV in Swaziland, and contributing factors, and will focus on the extent to which perpetrators of such violence are, and can be, held accountable in law and in practice and the means by which victims of SGBV may better access effective remedies and reparation.
Participants will also discuss opportunities for engagement with UN mechanisms on addressing SGBV in the Kingdom of Swaziland.
The workshop is set against the backdrop of urgent recommendations adopted by the UN Human Rights Committee in 2017 on the combatting of violence against women, in respect of which Swaziland must report to the Committee by July 2018.
It comes ahead of Swaziland’s anticipated report, also due in July 2018, to the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women which in 2014 also adopted several recommendations on the combatting of violence against women.
The workshop also comes as national debates continue on the enactment of the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Bill, which Swaziland had committed to enact without delay at its 2016 Universal Periodic Review.
Workshop Agenda
Sep 22, 2016 | Advocacy, Non-legal submissions
The ICJ today spoke to continuing concerns for human rights and the rule of law in Swaziland, during discussion at the UN Human Rights Council of the outcome of Swaziland’s Universal Periodic Review.
The statement read as follows:
The ICJ is concerned by the lack of implementation of recommendations accepted by the Government of Swaziland during the first UPR cycle.
The Swazi Government undertook to take concrete and immediate measures to guarantee the independence and impartiality of the judiciary. However judges continue to be appointed on the basis of corrupt patronage. The current Chief Justice and another Supreme Court judge are generally perceived to have been appointed on the basis of their traditional roles as former headman and chief, respectively, in the absence of any formal or transparent merit-based recruitment process.
Swaziland still has not ratified key international instruments, including the Rome Statute, the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture, and the Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which they accepted during the last cycle.
The police have continued to ban and disrupt peaceful protests, relying on the Suppression of Terrorism Act, the Sedition and Subversive Activities Act and Public Order Act. Human rights defenders and political activists continue to be arrested and charged with criminal offences for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly.
Swaziland has not enacted into law the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Bill, or any other law guaranteeing gender equality.
For these reasons, the ICJ calls upon the Government of Swaziland to accept and fully and promptly implement UPR recommendations from this cycle relevant to:
- Ensuring the independence and impartiality of the judiciary;
- Ratifying and domesticating the international instruments they accepted at the last cycle;
- Aligning national laws with international standards to guarantee freedom of expression, association and assembly;
- Enacting the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Bill into legislation.
The statement may be downloaded in PDF format here: hrc33-upr-swaziland-2016
Nov 7, 2015 | News
The ICJ, Lawyers for Human Rights Swaziland (LHR(S), Lawyers for Human Rights South Africa (LHR), and Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) organized a training on strategic litigation for lawyers and human rights defenders from 6-7 November 2015 in Ezulwini.
The training was intended to empower Swazi lawyers and human rights defenders with tools for legal empowerment through litigation.
Further the training provided an opportunity for introducing the participants to international, regional and domestic mechanisms for strategic litigation and analysis of strategic litigation cases, opportunities and challenges in Swaziland.
Participants were drawn from different private law firms, human rights organisations, and the office of the Attorney General and women’s rights organisations.
To nurture regional peer learning and approaches the President of the Law Society of Lesotho Advocate Shale gave the key note presentation borrowing on lessons from other regions and Lesotho.
Resources persons included David Cote (LHR), Caroline James (SALC), Otto Saki (ICJ) and Thabiso Mavuso (Swaziland).
The expected impact is that increasingly lawyers and human rights defenders will take up strategic litigation as part of contributing to the achievement of systemic change and positive enforcement of fundamental rights and freedoms.
This training was held with the generous support of the European Union (EU) through the EU Delegation to Swaziland.
Contact:
Arnold Tsunga, ICJ Regional Director for Africa, t: +27 73 131 8411, e: arnold.tsunga(a)icj.org
Mandla Mkhwanazi LHR Swaziland Chairperson, t: +268 7602 6320, e: m.z.mkhwanazi(a)swazi.net
Caroline James, Lawyer, Southern Africa Litigation Centre t: 27 72 200 1813, e: CarolineJ(a)salc.org.za
David Cote, Programme Manager: Strategic Litigation Programme, LHR (South Africa) t: +27 11 339 1960, e: david(a)lhr.org.za
Sep 21, 2015 | Advocacy, Non-legal submissions
Today, the ICJ made a submission to the Human Rights Council’s Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review in advance of the Human Rights Council’s review of Swaziland in April/May 2016.
In its submission, the ICJ expressed concern about the following issues:
1) independence and impartiality of the judiciary and fair trial rights; and
2) international human rights instruments and mechanisms.
A copy of the submission can be found here:
Swaziland-ICJ-UPR-SWAZI SUBMISSION FINAL AS LODGED-Advocacy-2015-ENG (full text in PDF)
Jul 31, 2015 | News
The ICJ held a colloquium on this issue on 30-31 July. Judges, magistrates, lawyers, members of academia, and civil society leaders from SADC, ECOWAS and the East African Community attended the event.
The Acting Chief Justice of the Kingdom of Swaziland, MCB Maphalala and the Secretary General of ICJ, Wilder Tayler, officially opened the colloquium.
The participants discussed the concept of gender-based violence; the efforts to combat impunity in sexual offences and gender based violence at the national, regional and international level and made recommendations to eliminate the scourge.
One of the key objectives of the workshop was to contribute to the process of enacting sexual offences and domestic violence legislation in Swaziland.
The Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Bill of Swaziland is before the house of assembly, which has asked stakeholders to submit their views, on what should be included in the law.
The judges, lawyers and civil society leaders had robust and honest discussions touching on effective innovative strategies to combat sexual and gender based violence.
Some of the recommendations included the training of judicial officers to be gender sensitive, changing societal attitudes and prejudices, raising awareness amongst parliamentarians, creative interpretation and application of regional and international standards when adjudicating cases of sexual offences and gender based violence as well as observance of fair trial standards at the national, regional and international level.
The colloquium was made possible with funding from IrishAid.
