Access to justice for black women in South Africa : a feminist social justice perspective

Abstract

The right to access justice is a fundamental right that should be guaranteed to all women in the world. This is in line with the legal provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). CEDAW further stipulates that access to justice for women is a fundamental element of the rule of law. Therefore, to realise this fundamental human right for women, international human rights law requires member states to take steps to ensure the effective implementation of national, regional and international laws relating to women’s right to access justice. These national and international instruments include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Universal Declaration), the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), CEDAW, the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (DEVAW), as well as section 9 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996, to mention but a few.

Despite all these legislative and policy frameworks, one still hears horrible and shocking stories about women’s human rights being violated in different ways. Moreover, young girls around South Africa are still subjected to physical and emotional abuse. As a result, it is understood that “women who seek justice are confronted by a complex landscape of laws, systems and institutions”. Particularly in South Africa, violent crimes such as the rape and murder of Anne Booysen’s in 2009 and Banyana National female football team player, Eudy Simelana, and the murder of Reeva Steenkamp convey a particular message of the lack of justice and protection for women.

Consequently, in this dissertation, I critically examine the reasons why female victims of human rights violations find it difficult to access justice. The analysis is done by adapting a social justice feminist approach to challenge the social injustice experienced by women in South Africa. I will also consider the international and national legal positions to find out the effectiveness of these international and national legal instruments in ensuring access to justice for women in Africa. Even though the provisions of international law seem to be available to all victims, access to the international courts may only be granted when local remedies are exhausted. Therefore, this dissertation is motivated by the lack of access to justice that the victims of human rights violations are currently experiencing.

A social justice feminist approach seems to provide a solution to the lack of access to justice. Social justice feminism is about social change; everyone is given an opportunity to do good and at the same time being empowered with the necessary resources to succeed. Achievement of social change would result in equal protection of people against human rights violations. The question is, can it be that an entirely different approach of implementation of the whole system of justice is the answer? I rely on current South African laws, rules, policies and cultural norms, case law as well as journal articles which could provide a broader stand on current occurrences of human rights violations against women and provide the solution to the problem of access to justice for women in South Africa.