Liberia Publications

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Guide to UN Convention Against Torture in South Africa Guide to UN Convention Against Torture in South Africa

This publication, released in 2011, is an update to the earlier version published in 2008. It provides an up to date guide to the implementation of the UN Convention against Torture and Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT) which South Africa ratified in December 1998. As a guide to the UNCAT it is aimed at civil society organisations, human rights activists and officials working with people deprived of their liberty. The guide is divided in six chapters as follows: The absolute prohibition of torture in international law; Framing the problem of torture in a South African context; The UNCAT and South Africa’s obligations; The Committee against Torture and South Africa; Recent case law; Domestic and international stakeholders in preventing and combating torture.

The law and the business of criminal record expungement in South Africa The law and the business of criminal record expungement in South Africa

This report reviews the use and expungement of criminal records in South Africa and was prompted by a recent amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act which created, for the first time, a mechanism for certain criminal convictions to be expunged. The situation of criminal records and their expungement is, however, not a simple one and the creation of additional registers (Sex Offender Register, Child Protection Register and Diversion Register) have added another dimension to the issue. The overall impression from the legal framework is that different pieces of legislation use different yardsticks in respect of expungements. It is furthermore a general conclusion that the scope of the mechanism created in the Criminal Procedure is extremely narrow and that very few former offenders would in fact benefit from it. The creation of this mechanism also saw the private sector creating a profit opportunity with some companies charging amounts as high as R7 500 for handling the expungement application, a procedure that should cost no more than R100. The report concludes by recommending that the retention and expungement of criminal records should be selective, purposeful and based on knowledge.

Remand detention in South Africa: An overview of the current law and proposals for reform Remand detention in South Africa: An overview of the current law and proposals for reform

This research report provides an overview of the necessary research to develop possible solutions for limiting the amount of time remand detainees spend in custody. The report discusses, firstly, the bail provisions in the Criminal Procedure Act with regard to the right to liberty and in the broader constitutional notion of proportionality. Second, case law from regional and international bodies dealing with pre-trial release is explored, and third, detention time limits and automatic bail review proceedings are discussed. Fourth, the conceptual distinction between fair trial rights and liberty interests and the South African courts’ treatment of “undue delay” cases is described. The report concludes with the recommendation that a constitutional challenge, based on the Criminal Procedure Act’s failure to adequately protect the accused’s right to liberty, be brought on behalf of South Africa’s remand detainees. Such a challenge would be based on the right to liberty and argue that without custody time limits and a regular, automatic review of bail decisions, the law in relation to bail, as it currently stands, is unconstitutional.

Survey of Detention Oversight Mechanisms Provided for in the Laws of SADC Countries.pdf Survey of Detention Oversight Mechanisms Provided for in the Laws of SADC Countries.pdf

Given the slow rate at which SADC countries have signed and ratified OPCAT, this paper explores existing statutory detention oversight mechanisms in the domestic laws of SADC countries with a particular emphasis on prisons. The notion of individuals or institutions visiting places of detention to inspect conditions of detention and treatment of detained persons is not new and is found even in the antiquated laws of several countries reviewed here.

Tuberculosis in a South African prison – a transmission modelling analysis

Simon Johnstone-Robertson, Stephen D Lawn, Alex Welte, Linda-Gail Bekker, Robin Wood. From South African Medical Journal 2011;101:809-813. Prisons are recognised internationally as institutions with very high tuberculosis (TB) burdens where transmission is predominantly determined by contact between infectious and susceptible prisoners. A recent South African court case described the conditions under which prisoners awaiting trial were kept. With the use of these data, a mathematical model was developed to explore the interactions between incarceration conditions and TB control measures

Paul v Attorney General [2011] MWHC 10

"This matter is about the constitutionality of the applicant's detention whilst awaiting to he tried. Indeed what I am being asked to consider in this case is whether there was a breach of the reasonable time requirement as stipulated in Section 42(2)(f)(i) of the Constitution of Malawi. In this regard, I believe that the test that has to be adopted would be one that was laid down in. Attorney-General's Reference (No 1 of 1990)[1992] QJ3 630, which is that (in the absence of malpractice or misbehaviour by the prosecutor) the attention of the court is directed to the single issue whether, because of the delay which has occurred, a fair trial of the accused or defendant will or may be prejudiced."

A5I - CLC statement at the 50th Ordinary Session of the ACHPR

This is the statement that the Community Law Centre (predecessor of the Dullah Omar Institute) and the Article 5 Initiative, a project of which CSPRI was part, made a the 50th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, which was held from 24 October until 5 November 2011.

Constitution of Zimbabwe

Constitution of Zimbabwe, as amended at the 14 September, 2005 (up to and including Amendment No. 17)

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku October 2011

In this issue, media reports deal with governance and corruption, unsentenced prisoners, prison conditions, South Africans imprisoned abroad and news from other African countries.

Libya: Human Rights Agenda for Change

In this document Amnesty International calls on the Transitional Libyan Authorities to reform the security and law enforcement sector, reform the criminal justice system, end arbitrary and incommunicado detention, and eradicate torture and ill-treatment.

CSPRI Newsletter No. 39 - September 2011

This newsletter discusses the problem of prison overcrowding in South Africa in light of recent foreign and international jurisprudential developments. It further explores the possibility of similar reform litigation in South Africa.

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku September 2011

This month's media summary report includes news about governance and corruption, unsentenced prisoners, parole and sentencing and prison conditions, as well as prison related news from other African countries.

'You Don't Know Who To Blame: War Crimes in Somalia'

by Human Rights Watch. "...The population in areas controlled by the Transitional Federal Government and its allies has also been subjected to violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. These include arbitrary arrest and detention, restrictions on free speech and assembly, and indiscriminate attacks harming civilians... "Somalis seeking safety in Kenya contend with police harassment, arbitrary arrests, and deportation back to Somalia. Somali refugees en route to the sprawling complex of refugee camps at Dadaab, Kenya, take hazardous back roads to avoid the Kenyan police and the official border post that until recently remained closed. They are then at the mercy of well organized networks of bandits who engage in robbery and rape."

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku August 2011

The media reports include issues within the topics of prisons conditions, parole and sentencing, unsentenced prisoners, extradition and escapes, as well as prison related media reports in other African countries.

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