The Politics of Socio-economic Rights in South Africa – Ten Years after Apartheid
The South Africa Programme and the Network on Local Politics in Developing Countries (at theUniversity of Oslo) are very pleased to invite you to participate in a two-day open conference
Date: 8-9 June 2004.
Venue: Helga Eng Building, University of Oslo, Blindern
Objective(s):
In 1994 South Africa’s historic shift to a popularly elected post-apartheid
government signaled a dramatic triumph in the struggle to extend democracy and
human rights to the excluded majority. Formal components of democracy -such
as elections, state organs and institutional channels- were constructed. Not
least, a highly innovative constitutional framework underpinned the edifice
of civil and political rights. One of the most innovative aspects of the new
era was the constitutional space given also to the right to an adequate standard
of living, in other words, to socio-economic rights. The landmark of a decade
after apartheid now provides the opportune occasion for a critically balanced
analysis of the extent to which these formal spaces of democracy have enabled,
shaped and constrained the fulfillment of socio-economic rights in South Africa.
The aim of the 2 day conference is to critically assess the interface between
the formal spaces of democracy and different actors within what is termed a
politics of socio-economic rights. The conference will explore the following
questions:
What
progress has been made in the fulfillment of socio-economic rights since 1994?
How
do different actors relate to these formal spaces, interact with them and use
them in order to fulfil socio-economic rights?
Which
strategies, whether collaborative or confrontational, are most effective in
fulfilling socio-economic rights?
What
are the challenges ahead for socio-economic rights and how should South Africa
deal with the politics of rights in the years to follow? Leading South African
scholars, activists and NGO actors, along with Norwegian-based discussants,
will place these questions in the context of specific themes addressing
- constitutionalism
- social litigation
- social movements
- HIV/AIDS
- land reform
- labour and economy
- activism
- social policy, poverty
- the ambiguities of post-apartheid transition
PROGRAMME
Tuesday June 8, 2004
9.15-9.30
Geir Ulfstein (Norwegian Centre for Human Rights): Welcome remarks
9.30-10.15
Adam Habib (Human Sciences Research Council): The Transition from Apartheid
to Democracy
10.15-11.00
Albie Sachs (Constitutional Court of SA): How We Got from There to
Here: On the Bill of Rights and Fulfillment of Socio-Economic Rights in Post-Apartheid
South Africa
11.00-11.30
Coffee/tea
11.30-12.00
Siri Gloppen (University of Bergen and Christian Michelsen Institute):
Socio-Economic Rights and Constitutionalism: Not by Litigation Alone?
12.00-12.30
Charlotte McClain (South African Human Rights Commission):
Socio-Economic Rights and the Role of the SAHRC
12.30-14.00
Lunch
14.00-15.00
Open floor discussion. Discussant: Sibonile Khoza (Community Law Centre,
Univ. of the Western Cape)
15.00-15.30
Coffee/tea
15.30-16.00
Julian May (University of KwaZulu Natal): Poverty and Social Policy
16.00-16.30
Open floor discussion. Discussant: Einar Braathen (Norwegian Institute
for Urban and Regional Research)
Wednesday June 9, 2004
9.30-10.00
Richard Ballard (University of KwaZulu Natal): The Social Movements
Project
10.00-10.30
Liv Tørres (Norwegian Research Council): Labour and the Politics
of the Alliance
10.30-11.00
Treatment Action Campaign (not confirmed) HIV/AIDS: How the Treatment
Plan was Won
11.00-11.30
Coffee/tea
11.30-12.30
Open floor discussion. Discussant: Peris Jones (Norwegian Centre for
Human Rights)
12.30-14.00
Lunch
14.00-14.30
Thembele Kepe and Ben Cousins (PLAAS, Univ of the Western Cape): Land
Reform and Rural Development
14.30-15.00
Open floor discussion. Discussant: Tor Arve Benjaminsen (Noragric)
15.00-15.30
Coffee/tea
15.30-16.00
Paul Graham (Institute for Democracy in South Africa). Socio-Economic
Rights: Cornerstone or Capstone of Democracy?
16.00-16.45
Open floor discussion
16.45-17.00
Kristian Stokke (Univ. of Oslo). Concluding Remarks
For further information contact:
Dr. Peris Jones, Norwegian Centre for Human Rights (peris.jones at
nchr.uio.no) or
Prof. Kristian Stokke, University of Oslo (kristian.stokke at sgeo.uio.no).