My Rights My Responsibilities - SAHRC

1 1My RightsMy ResponsibilitiesRights, Responsibilitiesand the SAHRCE nglish362 CONTENTSTHE BILL OF RIGHTS1. What are human Rights ?.. 42. Rights and 43. What is the Bill of Rights ?.. 44. What is the Constitution?.. 45. How the Bill of Rights 56. The Bill of 67. Can the Rights in the Bill of Rights be limited? .. 21 THE SOUTH AFRICAN human Rights COMMISSION1. What is the SAHRC and what does it do? .. 232. What type of cases does the SAHRC deal with? .. 263. How to report a human Rights violation to the SAHRC .. 314. What happens to your complaint once it is received?.. 325. How else can human Rights be protected?.. 33 DICTIONARYNote: Words with this sign * next to them .. 34are explained in the Dictionary35negotiation -This is another way of sorting out anargument without taking it to court. Thepeople involved in the argument talk to eachother and try to reach an agreement whichthey are both happy -This is a document which sets out what youthink about something.

2 You then get manypeople to sign it to say that they agree withyou. You then send it to the person whoyou are trying to convince to do somethingor change -This is another way of trying to get someoneto do something or change something. Itinvolves standing outside their place of who do this usually carry signs whichsay what they are unhappy -This is information which you spread to tryand get people to think the same way as you. Propaganda for war is information whichyou spread to try and start a war or makesure a war -This is when you are forced to work forsomeone and you have no / violated -This means the same as -Treated badly. A human Rights abuse iswhen one of your Rights are -Some of the Rights in the Bill of Rights sayyou have access to something. This doesnot mean that you have the right to the thingitself. Instead, it means that the governmentmust do things to make it possible for youto get these / democratic -Democracy is a way of running a country.

3 Itis based on the idea that everyone in acountry should have a say in how it is , because it is not possible to haveeveryone attending meetings and makingdecisions, we choose people to do this for usduring -To be kept in custody by the police orsecurity -Treat unequally or -This is a way of sorting out a problem without having to take it to court. An independ-ent person is chosen as the mediator . Thetwo sides to the argument then tell theirstories. The mediator then comes to adecision which both sides are happy BILL OF RIGHTS1. What are human Rights ? human Rights are the basic Rights that everyone has, simply becausethey are human . They do not have to be earned and they are notprivileges which someone gives to you. You have them from themoment you are born. Because they are Rights , they cannot be takenaway (although they can sometimes be limited see page 21).2.

4 Rights and responsibilitiesBecause everyone has human Rights , we must make sure that we re-spect other people s Rights . If we want our Rights to be respected,we must not do anything that violates* another person s , these Rights do not replace the laws we already have, and sowe must respect these laws as What is the Bill of Rights ?The Bill of Rights is a list of human Rights which everyone has. Itcan be found in Chapter 2 of our new Constitution.(A summary is included in this booklet, but you should try to gethold of the full version in the Constitution.)4. What is the Constitution?The Constitution is the highest or supreme law of South sets out how the government is made up and how the countrymust be run. Because it is the highest law, no other laws cancontradict the Constitution. If they do, they will be scrapped or335. How else can human Rights be protected?International instrumentsIn addition to the Bill of Rights , there are also documents knownas International Instruments , which set out Rights for specialgroups.

5 Most of these have been written by the United Declaration of human Rights , the Convention on theElimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women and theConvention on the Rights of the are also documents like the African Charter on human andPeoples Rights , which is like a Bill of Rights for a country signs any of these documents, it agrees to protectthe Rights set out in them as well. So far, South Africa has signed allthose mentioned above as well as declarations protecting refugeesand outlawing racial The Constitution is much harder to change than Bill of Rights is included in the Constitution to make it part ofthe highest law, and to make it difficult to change or take away therights of the people. Because it is part of the law, it can be used incourt to protect your How the Bill of Rights worksThe Bill of Rights has to be followed by government, all the peopleand organisations in South Africa.

6 It is mainly there to protectpeople from all types of abuse and to ensure that they enjoy can use the Bill of Rights to stop government, individuals andprivate companies from abusing your Rights , and to realise yourrights as right to equality in the Bill of Rights says that no-one can unfairlydiscriminate* against anyone else. This means people are not allowedto treat other people differently because of their race, gender, ageand so on. If you apply for a job and you are told that you cannothave it because of your race, this will not be allowed. This is becausethe right to equality protects you from discrimination by the govern-ment and by anyone people cannot agree whether someone s Rights have beenviolated,* they can take the matter to the Courts to What happens to your complaint once it isreceived?Please do not worry if your case seems to take a long time to sort out,since the SAHRC receives many complaints.

7 However, you can call orwrite to our offices at any time if you want to know what is going onwith your case. If something happens to you and you are not surewhether your Rights have been violated, you can call or write to us The Bill of RightsThis is a brief description of all the human Rights protected in theBill of Rights . The full version of these Rights is in Chapter 2 of (Section 9)All people are equal and must be treated equally. No one isallowed to discriminate* against you because of your race, gender,sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexualorientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture,language or discrimination is allowed, if it is a company wanted to employ bus drivers, it would be fair for themto discriminate against someone who is blind, because a blind personwould be unable to drive a action is also allowed.

8 This is a policy which tries tomake up for the wrongs of the past, where people were treatedunfairly because of their race or gender, as well as current though this sometimes means that people who received anadvantage because of apartheid will now be placed at adisadvantage, it is allowed because it is necessary to set right theunequal situation which apartheid Can a woman be asked to leave her job because she ispregnant? Can a shop owner refuse to serve gay people? Should an unmarried mother be told to leave a university,school or technikon??313. How to report a human Rights violation to theSAHRCIf you think your case is one which the SAHRC will deal with,you can: Telephone an SAHRC office. A member of staff will writedown your complaint in a statement; arrange an appointmentfor you to come to the SAHRC offices for your statement tobe taken; or send you a Complaint Form for you to fill inand send to us; Write your complaint down in a statement and fax or post itto an SAHRC office; or Get a Complaint Form from one of our offices.

9 Youshould then fill in this form and send it to to fill in the SAHRC Complaint FormThe SAHRC complaint form has information to help you fill it will need to tell us: your personal details (address, phone number and so on); which right you think has been violated; details of what happened to you (including the date ithappened and where); the names and contact addresses of any witnesses; and the names of the person or people who violated yourrights (if you know this).Once you have completed this form, you should mail it or bring itto one of our offices. Our addresses are in front of this dignity (Section 10)You have dignity because you are ahuman being and your dignity must berespected and Can a woman be searchedby a male police officer? Should people be allowedto use racist language?Life (Section 11)You have the right to life. No-oneshould take your life away, not even the Can a state hospital or clinic refuse to treat someone who isdying, even if they have no money?

10 Should there be a death penalty if we all have the right tolife?Freedom and security of the person (Section 12) You can only be imprisoned if there is a good reason. You cannot be detained without trial and torture is notallowed. You have the right to be free from all forms of violence,even in your own is to stop people abusing their wives, husbands, children,girlfriends or boyfriends. You cannot be treated or punished in a cruel, inhuman ordegrading way. Corporal punishment (like caning or whipping) isnot allowed, in schools or homes. You have the right to make decisions about whether you wantto have Aids ConsortiumThe Aids Consortium is made up of anumber of civil society bodies that focuson HIV/Aids related issues. They willgive you free legal advice if you are livingwith HIV/Aids and help you if you arediscriminated* against because of your HIV : 011 403 and Training UnitThis unit provides free advice on laws and procedures that affectpoor communities in South Africa and provides free materials toNGOs and : 011 648 You have control over your body.