CSPRI drives SA civil society in writing the ICCPR shadow report

On 27 January 2016, Dullah Omar Institute’s Civil Society Prison Reform Initiative (CSPRI) unit hosted a civil society workshop aimed at compiling a shadow report to South Africa’s State Report and their response to the List of Issues on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Right (ICCPR) which was submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Committee respectively on 26 November 2014 and 3 December 2015. The meeting was a great opportunity to co-ordinate the drafting of thematic shadow reports by identifying key issues to be addressed.

According to CSPRI’s project co-ordinator, Associate Professor Lukas Muntingh, it is important for civil society organisations to submit one or more shadow reports in order for the United Nations Human Rights Committee to have a comprehensive picture of the current human rights situation in the country. He expressed his wish for organisations to draft thematic reports, possibly in co-ordination with other civil society organisations.

The deadline for the submission of shadow reports to the UN Human Rights Committee is 12 February 2016. The workshop ended with an understanding that there would be a comprehensive shadow report on the areas of criminal justice and human rights; participatory democracy and the right to self-determination; and women, children and juvenile justice.