Pretoria - South Africa is advocating support for economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights at a domestic level.
This through maximum protection, adequate remedies and zero tolerance on impunity for violations of these rights, said Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Luwellyn Landers.
He was speaking at a national workshop on the domestic implementation of provisions of the international convent on economic, social and cultural rights in Midrand, on Monday.
Deputy Minister Landers said South Africa has put in place a number of steps to ensure that the country does not lag behind in compliance of these rights.
Among the steps include the creation of a National Coordination Mechanism (NCM) as a juristic body that has to coordinate all work undertaken by national departments with mandates in this regard.
“The NCM will also have powers to pronounce and advocate for increased budgetary baselines and resources in order to fully and effectively achieve the fulfillment of the rights in their purview.
“Importantly, the co-coordinating role of the NCM, by design, should extend to a range of actors, including the Corporate Sector, in realizing the rights contained in the Covenant,” said the Deputy Minister.
Another step is to ensure that the South African Initial Country Report is submitted to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on or before the due date of 12 April 2017, as well as the signing and ratification of the optional protocol to the covenant on economic, social and cultural rights as a matter of urgency.
With these steps, Deputy Minister Landers said South Africa “should be in a better and stronger position to take a leadership role at the international level on critical areas associated with the covenant”. – SAnews.gov.za
