The Pan Afrikanist Watchman

The Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADCPF) wants to develop a SADC Model Law on Prison Oversight as well as a Model Law on the Rule of Law and Constitutionalism in the years to come.

Closing the Joint SADC PF and INTER PARES workshop on ‘Enhancing Parliaments’ role in defending and promoting human rights in Southern Africa’ on Thursday, SADCPF Secretary General Boemo Sekgoma – speaking remotely from her base in Windhoek, Namibia – indicated that they are currently “open to receiving interests from partners to support these noble initiatives”.

Sekgoma observed that the nature of human rights may vary over time citing for example that if 30 years ago, capital punishment was seen as a violation of the right to life, it may well be possible that life sentences for prisoners may equally be tantamount to a human rights violation in the contemporary context.

Other issues which she said call for variance is the treatment of prisoners. Should prisoners have access to a library of books, or is this too much liberty? Should they be able to play one musical instrument of their choice during their rest hours? Should prisoners be allowed to watch television?

Should there be a greater focus on rehabilitation rather than admonishment, and if yes, how should it go? Sekgoma acknowledged that while they do not have precise answers to these questions, yet they incite reflections about how the notion of human dignity may vary over time and how “we want our society to evolve into the future”.

She noted that nowadays, human rights discourse is even evolving towards the right to broadband connectivity since access to the internet is closely intertwined with access to education. 

“My point here is that human rights are not static in nature, and they will necessarily evolve over time in pace with greater standards for human dignity and decency”.

Sekgoma emphasised that it is the duty of Parliaments to evaluate the changes over time and ensure that the legislative framework adapts to enhanced standards of human rights protection.

She noted that as the Forum updates its partnership matrix for the next five years, they will be keen to develop robust partnerships that can assist “our parliamentary organs” to tackle Model Law making more effectively, thus also impacting on the domestication of human rights treaties.

SADCPF has spearheaded the development of several Model Laws among these – the SADC Model Law on Elections; SADC Model Law on HIV and AIDS in Southern Africa; SADC Model Law on Eradicating Child Marriage and Protecting Children Already in Marriage; SADC Model Law on Gender Based Violence and lately the SADC Model Law on Public Financial Management.

Ms Sekgoma noted that Model Laws developed by the Forum have proved to be a “valuable catalyst” to spearhead domestication and expressed a keenness to see further investment in Model-law initiatives in relation to topics that are still unexplored as well as for domestication strategies of existing Model Laws.

The Secretary General then invited partners to collaborate profusely with the Forum under the auspices of the Regional Parliamentary Model Laws Oversight Committee, which she described as the flagship domestication organ of the SADC-PF.

The Secretary General emphasised the need to develop North-South collaboration to a “greater extent” in view of ensuring that there is harmonisation of understanding of human rights treaties and how they need to be interpreted to speed up the domestication process.

“I wish to emphasise that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the International Covenants on Civil and Political rights and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, all envisage that human rights be applied globally in the same manner”.

Among the dignitaries attending the workshop were Aisha Adams, MP, the Second Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Malawi, representing the Rt. Hon. Catherine Gotani Hara, Speaker of the Parliament of Malawi; Chairperson of the SADC PF Standing Committee on Democratisation, Governance and Human Rights, Tendai Nyabani, Members of the SADC PF Standing Committee on Democratisation, Governance and Human Rights.

There were also Members National Parliaments of European Union Member States, joining online as well as Ivo Hoefkens, Head of Cooperation, European Union Delegation to the Republic of Malawi.

Dr Jonathan Murphy, Head of Programme, INTER PARES, International IDEA joined physically while Dr Roba Sharamo, Regional Director for Africa and West Asia, International IDEA, joined online and offered insights to the deliberations.

(C) The Pan Afrikanist