The South African National Protection System

Abstract

The domestic institutional landscape or system of national human rights protection and promotion will determine the extent to which it is able to respond to different human rights issues. Some of the core features of a National Protection System (NPS) would include the enactment of legal and policy frameworks; establishment of formal processes to facilitate participation, enforcement and accountability; local and national governmental actors, legislative and judiciary actors, and national human rights institutions, to implement the tripartite human rights obligation of the state.2 It also includes non-state actors (academia, media, business and civil society) undertaking human rights research, monitoring, and advocacy. This chapter focuses on South Africa’s NPS to (i) examine the constitutional foundation and structural features of the NPS; (ii) assess the role of various national actors and the extent of their contributions to the strengthening of the NPS; and (iii) highlight the weaknesses of the NPS and how cooperation between various actors could contribute to strengthening South Africa’s NPS. The analysis in this chapter will focus on the constitutional foundations of South Africa’s NPS, the institutions for the protection of human rights (focus on the judiciary, parliament, and the South African Human Rights Commission), and the space for civil society organisations.