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Opening Remarks by Mr. Walid Badawi, Country Director, UNDP South Africa

Program Director, Dr. Gomolemo Moshoeu, Justice Tshiqi and honourable magistrates, Representatives of the national house of traditional leaders, My UNDP colleague, Mr. Amitrajit Saha, Team Leader, HIV, Health and Development Team for Africa, Eastern Europe and Arab States, My colleagues Mr. Simphiwe Mabhele from ILO and Ayanda Ngubo from SANAC, Distinguished guests, Ladies and gentlemen, All protocols observed.

1.0         On behalf of the UNDP South Africa Office, let me welcome you to this judicial dialogue on HIV, TB and the Law which is indeed an epic moment as Dr. G mentioned.

2.0         I hope that you have travelled comfortably and wish you all a fruitful and successful two days of deliberations.

3.0         Let me take this opportunity to first of all thank Dr. Gomolemo Moshoeu (fondly known by us as Dr. G), and Ms. Poso Mogale for reaching out to UNDP to partner with SAJEI in offering this Judicial Dialogue on HIV, TB and the Law. I also acknowledge the participation and contribution of the UN Joint Team on AIDS (prevention team) represented by ILO and UNDP and my colleague Nelly Mwaka, and SANAC, our partner on HIV, human rights and legal reform.

4.0         This judicial dialogue comes hot on the heels of the 5th Africa Regional Judges’ Forum which was held in Sandton from 19-20 June. The Africa Regional Judges’ Forum was launched here in Johannesburg in 2014 and has held 5 successive annual meetings with participation from an increasing number of judges from Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia. Amitrajit Saha and Justice Tshiqi and myself have attended these forums since their inception. My colleague Amitrajit Saha will be providing further information on the purpose of these forums and the achievements and challenges so far. But, for now, I am very proud to point out that this judicial dialogue is an off-shoot of the Africa Regional Judges’ Forum as part of our efforts to localize the Judges’ Forum and apply the knowledge, lessons and experiences to the South African context. It was felt that we should first start with magistrates who normally handle issues related to HIV, human rights and the law in their day to day jurisprudence in their areas of jurisdiction. This judicial dialogue will be spearheaded by Justice Tshiqi as the chair of the African Regional Judges’ Forum Steering Committee and as the South African representative in the Forum.

5.0         The goal of this dialogue is to gain new insights and knowledge and to share experiences, challenges and new developments in HIV-related jurisprudence in order to uphold the rights of all people, including key populations that are at high risk of HIV exposure, and to support and sustain judicial excellence on HIV and the law.

6.0         So, why the focus on HIV, TB and the law?  I will defer to Justice Tshiqi who will be providing a detailed rationale for this, but I would like to reiterate that although South Africa has made great strides in responding to the HIV epidemic, some challenges still remain, especially in the areas of human rights, stigma and discrimination, and the extent to which it disproportionately affects certain groups of people.

7.0         The Thembisa model estimates of mid-2016 show that South Africa has an estimated 7.1 million people living with HIV (PLHIV). A further analysis of the recently adopted National Strategic Plan for HIV, TB and STIs (2017–2022) shows that adolescent girls and young women as well as other key and vulnerable populations remain most heavily affected by the epidemic. Young women (aged between 15 and 24 years) have the highest HIV incidence of any age or sex cohort - Young women in their early 20s have a four-fold burden compared to their male peers, with approximately 2,000 new HIV infections occurring every week, or 100,000 of the 270,000 new infections a year. Another alarming statistic is that one third of teenage girls become pregnant before the age of 20. HIV prevalence among the approximately 150,000 female sex workers ranges from 48% to 72%, compared to 14.4% among adult women in the general population. So a special focus on young women in particular would go a long way in reversing the epidemic.

8.0         Regarding TB, South Africa has the sixth highest TB incidence in the world, with more than 450,000 new cases diagnosed in 2015, with 63% of those cases in people living with HIV. Only modest declines in new TB cases can be reported since 2012. Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) is a growing problem; with the number of cases doubling from 2007 to 2012.

9.0         People living with or affected by HIV and TB encounter stigma, discrimination and violations of their rights, and this increases the devastating impact of HIV and TB on their lives and creates barriers to access to services and support. In South Africa, the People Living with HIV Stigma Index survey found that 35.5% of people living with HIV and 36.3% with TB reported experiencing externalized stigma, and 43% and 27% respectively experienced internalized stigma. This means that the protection of fundamental human rights is essential to safeguard human dignity in the context of HIV, protect affected persons from discrimination, as well as promote access to HIV-related prevention, treatment, care and support services. It is our belief that the judiciary can play a crucial role in this effort through its interpretation and implementation of national Constitutions, legislation, international and regional human rights treaties. The UNDP Country office is pleased to be working in partnership with the South African National AIDS Council to implement goal 5 of the NSP which aims to ground the response in human rights principles and approaches.

10.0      To effectively address the HIV and TB epidemics, there is an urgent need to end stigma, discrimination and exclusion. This requires significantly increased investments in strengthening enabling legal and regulatory frameworks and removing human rights and gender-related barriers, including through law and policy reform and ongoing work with the judiciary.

11.0      Some of the challenges for the judiciary in supporting rights-based responses to the HIV and TB epidemics in Africa include responding to complex legal and human rights’ issues: overturning legislation that either does not address, or actively curtails the human rights of people most at risk of and most affected by HIV and TB; challenging the policies and practices of governments, organisations and individuals that discriminate against key populations and clarifying the health and human rights of all people, to name but a few.

12.0      As the judiciary, we should be alive to the fact that any positive effort we make in supporting rights-based responses to the HIV and TB epidemics make a significant contribution to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, notably:

·      SDG 3: Good Health and Well Being

·      SDG 5:  Gender Equality

·      SDG 10: Reducing Inequalities

·      SDG 16: Peace Justice and Strong Institutions.

13.0      UNDP recognises the importance of supporting members of the judiciary in their role to support and contribute towards enhanced access to services for key and vulnerable populations towards the global goal of ending AIDS and TB by 2030.

14.0      Before I conclude, I am reminded by the landmark case in 2000 of Mr. Jacques Hoffman, a cabin attendant at South African Airways whose rights of equality, human dignity and fair labour practices were found to have been violated, but this was not until the Concourt had to overturn a ruling by a lower court after exploring the medical a scientific evidence that corroborated his case. This is precisely the reason why UNDP has created this space to allow all of you to interrogate a multitude of evidence and information that can better support you in making future rulings that protect the rights of many more Jacques Hoffman’s.

15.0      Let me now conclude by stressing the urgency of a rights based response to HIV and TB, to underscore the crucial role played by the judiciary and to assure you of UNDP’s continued readiness for support and engagement in this process.

16.0      Once again, I welcome you and hope that you have a successful meeting to address all the planned objectives and attain the proposed outcomes.

17.0      Thank you!