Department of Justice and Constitutional Development
The deputy minister for justice and constitutional development, Andries Nel, has announced that the national task team on lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-sexual and intersex (LGBTI) persons has now been set up.
He made this known during an address at the official opening of the first working session of the task team.
The deputy-minister described the event as marking “the beginning of a historic partnership between government and civil society in the fight against homophobic crimes in our country”.
“Today’s event symbolizes a shared devotion by people of South Africa to ensuring that our constitution becomes a living instrument of law that is respected by all”.
He added that South Africa’s constitution had “globally positioned South Africa as one of the liberal countries that expressly prohibits all forms of discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation”.
However, an appropriate set of laws and interventions was needed to ensure that human rights were indeed protected.
The deputy-minister pointed out that the task team has been instructed to develop the national intervention strategy on LGBTI crime-related issues.
The strategy seeks to find ways to stop all criminal acts directed at the LGBTI community.
The deputy-minister called on the task team to include a number of key focus areas in the proposed strategy.
Included in the list is:
• Research and policy development
• Legislative review and development
• Integrated information management system
• Training and development
• Communication campaign around LGBTI issues
• Monitoring and evaluation
The task team consists of officials of relevant government departments together with representatives of civil society organisations.
The task team will come up with specific interventions to be assigned to the various parties.
According to the deputy minister, his department has already started to hold information sessions on social context in LGBTI matters across the country. So far, over 1000 court personnel have been reached.
The information sessions are designed to break down “stereotypes and mindsets that infringe the constitutional rights of the LGBTI’s in our court system”.
Talks are also underway with the national house of traditional leaders to find ways to bring cultural practices and the constitution closer together.
Sabinet Cape Town Office
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