Rights

Human rights in South Africa

Human rights are those basic and fundamental rights to which every person - for the simple reason of being human - is entitled. These rights are inalienable: a person has them forever and they cannot be taken away. The natural rights of South Africans received no protection before the country became a constitutional democracy in 1994. (See the history of the Constitution for the background to the struggle for human rights and democracy.)

Chapter 3 of the interim Constitution introduced legally protected fundamental rights to South Africa for the first time. Now fundamental human rights are entrenched in Chapter 2 - sections 7 to 39 - of the 1996 Constitution. The Bill of Rights is arguably the part of the Constitution that has had the greatest impact on life in this country. As the first words of this chapter say: "This Bill of Rights is a cornerstone of democracy in South Africa. It enshrines the rights of all people in our country and affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom."

It has also been the source of the majority of the groundbreaking rulings the Constitutional Court has handed down. To read more about selected rights and the way the Constitutional Court has interpreted them, see children's rights, women's rights, gay and lesbian rights, workers' rights and access to information

Vertical and horizontal application

It goes without saying that the Bill of Rights is binding on the government. Section 8 says it binds the executive, the judiciary and all organs of state - which means everyone from the president to the police. But a recurring theme in constitutional law is whether private individuals and bodies (such as clubs, companies and private schools) are also obliged to observe such rights. It is widely recognised that some private bodies, such as large companies, can have great power. Shouldn't citizens be protected from non-state bodies that, for example, discriminate unfairly?

This question, left unanswered in the interim Constitution, was cleared up by Section 8 of the final Constitution: the Bill of Rights doesn't only apply vertically (from the state downwards, to its citizens) - it also applies, where applicable, horizontally (between one citizen or private body and another).

First, second and third generation rights

Human rights fall into two broad classes - first and second generation. Civil and political rights, those traditionally included in constitutions around the world, tend to be considered first-generation rights. These rights, which were given expression by the Enlightenment thinkers, were the first to be recognised by law. They begin with the basic rights to life, dignity, equality and privacy. But they also include the fundamental freedoms associated with democracy: freedom of expression, association, assembly, opinion, belief and religion, and movement.

Second-generation rights are those connected to the social and economic features of life. South Africa is one of only a few countries in the world to entrench rights such as access to food, water, housing, healthcare and social security - section 27. The right to education and the special rights of children also fit in here.

Third-generation rights - a relatively new field in human rights - concern the environment and development, as well as culture and language.