‘Vasbyt’ for your human rights, SAHRC urges South Africans

South Africans need to “vasbyt” and fight for their hard-won freedoms despite several ongoing human rights challenges, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) said on Tuesday.

In their Human Rights Day message, the commission also highlighted the need for unity to protect human rights.

“This year’s Human Rights Day comes at a time when the country continues to battle several human rights challenges,” the SAHRC said in their statement. These include:

• climate change related disasters;
• power crises;
• gender-based violence;
• high levels of unemployment which exacerbate poverty;
• rampant corruption;
• lack of service delivery;
• racial tensions;
• violence and crime, especially against women and children;
• discrimination against persons with disabilities; and
• sporadic attacks on non-nationals.

“As South Africa commemorates this day, the commission calls on all South Africans to hold fast to their fundamental freedoms in all that we do, and at all times to be reflective that together acting with dignity and respect, we will get through these challenges and emerge a nation proud of its human rights culture and importantly united in our diversity.”

Human Rights Day presented an opportunity to reflect on the country’s painful past and the significance of the transition to democracy, the SAHRC said. “It is through the guarding of the rights of our fellow compatriots that we uphold human rights in the country and protect our fundamental freedoms from erosion.”

The government also still has work to do regarding the protection of the rights of LGBTI+ people, according to Johannesburg-based media advocacy organisation Iranti.

In their Human Rights Day statement the group reiterated their call for President Cyril Ramaphosa to resolve issues related to gender identification within home affairs, where members of the LGBTI+ community continued to encounter obstacles.

In South Africa no express law exists for transgender and non-binary to amend their gender markers on their identification documents, except for the Alteration of Sex Description and Sex Status Act, also known as Act 49, which allows transgender persons who have begun their medical transition (hormonal or surgically) and intersex persons to change the sex descriptor on their identity documents, to reflect their gender identity.

This law has been challenged by trans and intersex movements, who have applied for amendments with the department of home affairs (DHA), Iranti said in its  statement.

“The DHA has since promised that the soon-to-be-published National Identification and Registration Bill of 2022 will finally resolve issues of legal gender recognition by removing gender markers from South African identity numbers. Iranti is looking forward to offering public comment to this bill and hopes that the passing of this bill will not be delayed for four years, as happened with the crucial hate-crimes bill,” the statement said. 

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