South Africa
On the site
The following Justice Initiative projects are underway in, or relevant to, South Africa:
National Criminal Justice Reform
Legal aid reform in Nigeria.
Capitalizing on a recent decision to reform Nigerian legal aid services, the Justice Initiative arranged a study visit for a government working group to South Africa, in September 2004. South Africa’s legal aid system, which uses interns, networks of legal clinics, and paralegals, to complement its formal legal aid service, has special relevance for Nigeria. The project seeks low cost solutions to address the effective absence in Nigeria of legal aid for indigent defendants, as well as acute over-incarceration in pretrial detention facilities. The aims include the establishment of a system of duty solicitors at police stations and courts and to ensure prompt decisions on arraignment and prosecution of persons alleged to have committed criminal offences in Nigeria. Nigerian Legal Aid & Pretrial Detention Project
South Africa: Enhancing police accountability.
Together with the Open Society Foundation – South Africa (OSF-SA), the Justice Initiative is strengthening civilian oversight of police by state and civil society in South Africa. Extensive consultation with civil society partners and state stakeholders during 2003 resulted in comprehensive research into the development and capacity of existing oversight mechanisms. The findings have provided a basis for consultations with relevant stakeholders, ministerial officials and parliamentary portfolio committees. Activities in 2005 will promote incorporation of project findings into the official reviews of the criminal justice system. A handbook on democratic policing, including indicators and other resources for those involved in police oversight will be published in early 2005. Conference on Police Accountability in South Africa and Media Coverage and Handbook for oversight of the police in South Africa
South Africa: community prosecution—enhancing prosecutorial accountability and effectiveness.
Notwithstanding increased capacity in the National Prosecuting Authority of South Africa (NPA) to process and prosecute offenders, the country’s crime levels remain high and public fear of crime appears to be rising. To address this, the Justice Initiative, together with the NPA and OSF-SA, are developing models of “community-oriented prosecution” to meet the needs and aspirations of the NPA, the South African public and victims of crime. Good practices in community-oriented prosecution—the involvement of grassroots groups and individuals in the development of strategies to combat crime—from North America and the Netherlands will be documented, critically evaluated and developed for South Africa, where levels of crime are high and state resources limited. During 2005, the handbook will be applied to produce an assessment of the state of policing ten years after the transition in South Africa.
Freedom of Information (FOI)
Access to Information Monitoring Tool.
In 2004, the Justice Initiative Access to Information Monitoring Tool measured levels of government transparency in 16 countries, including six in Africa (Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa). Monitoring will establish benchmark levels of transparency and identify opportunities for reform, to be accompanied by advocacy of constitutional and legislative reform where needed. South Africa, with a law in place since 2000, is a particular focus as a potential example for the rest of the continent. With OSF-SA and the Open Democracy Advice Centre, the Justice Initiative is exploring advocacy following the recommendations of its 2003 Access to Information Monitoring Tool report, which might include promotion of an Information Commissioner and the provision of amicus curiae help in litigation
FOI Advocates Network.
The Justice Initiative has taken a lead in establishing and sustaining the FOI Advocates Network, which currently has 53 members, including five from Africa, and a dedicated website (www.foiadvocates.net)
Freedom of Expression
African Union (AU) Research and Advocacy Project.
In 2005, a series of linked activities will promote the rights to freedom of expression and information in Africa. These include an analysis of African commitments and declarations on media freedom, freedom of expression and information, and the development of recommendations for reform. An audit of media freedom will be undertaken in selected African countries to analyze compliance with existing African and international standards. A coalition of civil society organizations will engage the AU leadership to promote a binding continental instrument on free expression guarantees. The project aims to create an informed and articulate constituency of civil society actors, equipped to work in advocacy directed at national governments and the AU.
Capacity building and networking: the Oxford Media Law Advocates Program.
Ten media lawyers from Africa participated in the Justice Initiative’s 2004 summer school, now in its third year, with an expanded program including African participants for the first time. Summer School Program and Press Announcement
Legal Capacity Development
The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and African regional courts.
Since July 2004, the Justice Initiative and the Coalition for an Effective African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, an alliance of NGOs, have engaged in dialogue with the Commission of the African Union on the best ways to integrate Africa’s various regional courts without delaying the establishment of the human rights court. In the course of 2004, the Justice Initiative, together with the Coalition and the AU, developed a set of guidelines for nominating candidates to the human rights court bench. In 2005, the process will aim to expedite the integration of the human rights court and the AU’s Court of Justice, following an AU decision of July 2004. The Justice Initiative provided legal advice to Kenya and Botswana enabling cabinet-level consideration of ratification of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights Protocol to take place.
Anticorruption
Southern Africa: campaign and party finance monitoring.
In partnership with the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) and the South Africa-based Eisa, the Justice Initiative is developing a regional strategy for monitoring and assessing the misuse of administrative resources in African elections. A pilot project monitored the Mozambican elections of December 2004, to be followed in 2005 by a workshop on civil society strategies to counter the misuse of administrative resources for electoral purposes. Another initiative under development will monitor the campaigns for Zimbabwe’s March 2005 parliamentary elections.