Issued by: Government Communications (GCIS)
PRESS RELEASE ON THE UNVEILING OF THE NATIONAL ACTION PLAN FOR THE PROTECTION AND PROMOTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
8 DECEMBER 1998
On 10th December 1998 - International Human Rights Day - South Africa will launch its National Action Plan for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights (NAP) as part of our country's commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Universal declaration of Human Rights.
10th December has a special historical significance for our country. Not only does it mark International Human Rights Day, but it was also the day on which President Mandela signed our own Constitution into law.
There is also a special significance to the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of us here in South Africa. 50 years ago, when the rest of the world was adopting the Universal Declaration, apartheid was being entrenched in our country. For close to half a century our country developed in the opposite direction to the rest of the world.
The NAP is government's response to the call made at the Vienna World Conference in 1993 for states to draw up national action plas idntifing steps they would take to improve the protection and promotion of human rights.
In producing the NAP, government has also responded to the desperate call of our people for a detailed policy and legislative programme to realise the fundamental rights and freedoms provided for in our Constitution and Bill of Rights.
As a human rights policy document, the NAP is:
The elaboration, drafting and adoption of the NAP was based on extensive consultation and active collaboration between government and civil society.
On 10 December this document will be officially launched at the Old Fort in Braamfontein from 10:00 a.m. The launch will be preceded by a Human Rights Carnival which will start at the Afrika Kultural Centre in Newtown and wind its way to the Old Fort.
The public is invited to participate in the activities at the Fort. Many NGO's, government departments, foreign embassies and other organisations will be setting up human rights stalls. There will also be various forms of entertainment - music by artists such as Ringo Madlingozi, Thandi Klaasen, Free Flight Dancers and others, poetry and mural painting.
The whole family is invited to join in the festivities. Food stalls will also be set up.
Later in the evening the NAP Coordinating Committee will co-host with NIPILAR the presentation of the Duma Nokwe Human Rights Award.
For further inquiries contact: Jeny Pasley 011-484 8300 0827449619