CALS Quarterly Issue 28
- Lee-Anne Gaertner
Read the latest issue of our quarterly newsletter and catch up on our recent highlights
June this year marks not only 49 years since the Soweto Uprising, but 30 years since the founding of the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court remains a central pillar of our democracy and CALS has been privileged to intervene in cases that have received landmark judgments upholding the rights to life, dignity, equality, housing and social security, among others.
Earlier this month, CALS was proud to host our inaugural Reshaping Justice seminar which was delivered by Prof Noura Erakat. Prof Erakat’s address was entitled ‘Ongoing Nakba, Justice and the Limits of Law’. She led an engaging discussion about Palestine, touching on the importance of solidarity and how the law can be used as an instrument of oppression and domination as well as social change.
CALS continues to use our tools of research, advocacy and litigation to advance social justice and hold not only the state but also private companies to account for respecting human rights standards. At the end of May, we hosted the 7th African Regional Indaba on the United Nations binding treaty on business and human rights with our partners at Lawyers for Human Rights and AIDC. The Indaba brought together many stakeholders to discuss our collective approach to corporate accountability on the continent.
On a more local level, we recently welcomed a judgment against Joshua Doore which had offered bundled insurance products to social grant beneficiaries. The High Court ruled it is unreasonable to offer insurance which includes income protection to pensioners or disbability cover to persons with disabilities since they would never be able to claim against them. Finally, following community engagement earlier this year, we launched a report – along with our partners from Sekhukhune, 350 Africa and Ahinasa – calling for socially-owned renewable energy in mining-affected communities in Limpopo.
We have a number of events coming up, including more seminars in our Reshaping Justice series as well as the 3rd annual Activist Symposium in September and Anti-Repression Week in November. If you would like to be the first to know about our seminars, please sign up here. To learn more about how to participate in the Activist Symposium, take a look at the call for contributions here.
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