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The execution of Janice Linden by Chinese authorities raises serious questions about whether the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) has done enough to protect the human rights of South Africans abroad.

I will today be writing to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to ask that DIRCO’s protection of the rights of South African citizens outside of the country be investigated.

The Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, said today in a reply to a parliamentary question that South Africa’s foreign policy decisions are informed by a “desire for a just, humane and equitable world”.

And yet her Department repeatedly fails to protect the human rights of South Africans on foreign soil, particularly when it involves countries that are deemed to have strategic importance for South Africa.

Other examples include the following:

• A South African couple was captured by Somali pirates in October 2010. The couple is still held captive.
• DIRCO has not been forthcoming with information on what has been done to aid the release of a South African man abducted in Mali in November 2011.
• On 5 April this year South African photographer, Anton Hammerl, was killed in Libya by Gaddafi loyalists. As late as the 12th of May, DIRCO still claimed that Hammerl was alive and in the custody of the Libyan government.

On the face of it, it appears that DIRCO is not doing enough to protect our citizens abroad. We cannot recall one instance in which our government has successfully intervened to secure the safety of South African nationals.

The SAHRC has rightly raised concerns at our government’s apparent unwillingness to speak out against the execution of Janice Linden because of our trade links with China.

SAHRC spokesperson Vincent Moaga said yesterday:

“When South Africa establishes trade and diplomatic relations with any country, it is absolutely imperative that human rights principles form one of the primary pillars of these relations...Her sentence is a violation of commonly accepted basic human rights, particularly the rights to life and dignity.”

The DA believes it appropriate for the SAHRC to investigate whether our government did enough to stop the execution of Janice Linden, and whether it does enough to protect the rights of South Africans abroad more generally.

Our government must not be allowed to put political loyalties before its duty to the people of South Africa.