Our Demands

How can we protect our Human Rights Defenders?
We can demand the government does its job.
The South African government must live up to the ideals of our Constitution and South Africa’s reputation for protecting human rights. It must:
- publicly condemn the killing of Human Rights Defenders
- make laws that recognise the important role that Human Rights Defenders play and ensure they are protected
- take urgent action to investigate and arrest the killers of Human Rights Defenders
- honour the commitment that South Africa made in November 2022, when the state agreed to protect Human Rights Defenders as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council.
We can hold private sector companies accountable.
We can share information about a company that is not behaving ethically, either in person, by email or phone or on social media. We can refuse to buy their products or services. We can let them know if we think they are doing something wrong, through shareholder activism and by reporting any wrongdoing we see going on to the relevant authorities.
We can work together to get the law changed.
South Africa is well known for having a Constitution which protects human rights but at present there are not enough laws which help to make sure that the ideals of the Constitution can be implemented.
One example is the Southern Africa Model Law on the protection and promotion of Human Rights defenders, which is a framework of laws that can be used by government, social justice organisations and individual people to help protect Human Rights Defenders. You can find more information about this at the end of this booklet
We can raise our voices.
We can speak up in our own communities. We can circulate information about Human Rights defenders, their work, their rights and the threats they face, either in person, on social media or by phoning or emailing our local government representatives.
If we have a job that directly affects people’s human rights, like being a police officer, nurse, lawyer or judge we should take special care to protect Human Rights Defenders. The UN Declaration on Human Rights defenders has more information about this.
We can also support civil society organisations that protect Human Rights Defenders.