CALS Quarterly Issue 31
- Lee-Anne Gaertner
Read the latest issue of our quarterly newsletter and catch up on our recent highlights
Partnership and solidarity are not just ideals, but necessities in the pursuit of justice. It is only by working together that we can achieve lasting social change and effectively defend the rights of marginalised communities. Collaboration enables us to move beyond individual cases to tackle the root causes of injustice and build collective power. With this in mind, the first quarter of the year has been marked by a number of important partnerships across our litigation, research and advocacy work.
In our litigation work, CALS has made a number of applications to be admitted as a ‘friend of the court’ with partners in South Africa and across the globe. The first sees CALS leveraging our work with rural communities and our membership of ESCR-Net to bring an international perspective to a case on land reform and historical redress in the Western Cape High Court. CALS has also approached the Court to intervene in a matter brought by Cape Union Mart against the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. We seek to ensure the rights of activists protesting the genocide in Gaza are not unconstitutionally limited.
CALS also submitted a joint amicus curiae intervention in the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Advisory Opinion requested by the Pan African Lawyers Union on the obligations of states with respect to the climate crisis. Finally, we joined public interest law organisations from around the world in an amicus brief to the US Supreme Court in Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Doe. The case concerns the liability of corporations under the US Alien Tort Statute for aiding and abetting human rights violations.
One of our key research projects for the year is a partnership with Brunel University of London, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro in Brazil, and the British Academy. The project aims to highlight the need for evidence-based policies in public security with a focus on Brazil and South Africa, and is being led by our Civil and Political Justice programme.
On the advocacy side, CALS partners with Embrace: The Movement for Mothers who recently protested outside the Department of Health to draw attention to obstetric violence. We then hosted Embrace as they launched the results of their birthing survey on the nature and prevalence of obstetric violence in South Africa. Earlier in the year, our Environmental Justice team also engaged in the Marginalised and Affected Communities Summit under the theme ‘Towards a people-led transition’.
Click the image below for more about these and other recent updates.
