The 2023 Human Rights Day theme is: “Consolidating and Sustaining Human Rights Culture into the Future”, and it would be useful to explore some of these concepts. Sociologists will quickly point out that ‘culture’ is not easy to define and that the concept has multiple applications. 

The one we are looking for here is, according to the Penguin Dictionary of Sociology, “culture as way of life. Social groups may be differentiated from each other by their differing attitudes, beliefs, language, dress, manners, tastes in food, music or interior decoration, and a host of other features which comprise a way of life. Such differentiations may occur at different levels”.

The way of life being referred to here is the one that requires consolidation. The Bill of Rights sets the minimum standards, and the remainder of the Constitution describes how the state and its stakeholders should achieve and abide by these minimum standards.  However, a culture of human rights is more than meeting minimum standards in law. In addition, there needs to be a pattern of shared attitudes, values and behaviours that influence government policy-making, decisions and practices to uphold human rights for all. 

It similarly requires the state to understand its duties to respect, protect and promote human rights as well as for people to know and claim their rights. A culture of human rights includes a shared understanding among people that all human beings are entitled to certain basic rights and freedoms simply by virtue of being human.

A human rights culture can be observed in a commitment to upholding human dignity (even of those who have offended society), equality and justice, and a rejection of discrimination, oppression, and violence. It means recognising and respecting the inherent worth of every individual, regardless of their background, identity, or circumstances. 

A rights culture is important because it promotes the protection of human rights at all levels of society. It is not only about the recognition of human rights but also about the active promotion and defence of those rights. This we can support through education, advocacy, and accountability to ensure that human rights are respected, protected, and fulfilled.

Over the past decade or more, life has been challenging, and all indications are that tough times lie ahead. Economic woes, state capture and widespread corruption, an increase in violent crime, COVID-19, attacks on critical infrastructure, and the killing of whistle-blowers are some of the issues we have and continue to face. In a shrinking economy with significant governance risks, investor confidence wanes, and jobs are shed, resulting in the increased vulnerability of those already marginalised.

READ HERE ABOUT THE DULLAH OMAR INSTITUTE AND ITS ACTIVITIES

To return to our theme “Consolidating and Sustaining Human Rights Culture”; consolidate means, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, “to become, or cause something to become, stronger, and more certain’. It can also mean ‘to combine several things, . . ., so that they become more effective, or to be combined in this way”. The past decade's events have indeed created new fissures and deepened old ones. It also gave us glimpses back into our own past where the state was distant and alienated from the people. 

It is, therefore, not surprising that trust in the state has declined notably. In a situation of low trust, the state suffers a legitimacy deficit and it would thus have difficulty in performing a consolidating function, i.e., pulling together the different elements in South African society to be more effective in a combined way. To do this would require a catalyst or rallying point.

Even though accountability is a founding value of the Constitution, it is perhaps the one most deeply wounded over the past decade. On the road to consolidation, restoring accountability must be central. Accountability means “being responsible for your decisions or actions and expected to explain them when you are asked”. Government officials in constitutional democracies accept that they are accountable for the decisions they make. They need to give an account of how they meet their responsibilities and what corrective actions have been taken, where appropriate.

Accountability requires transparency with regard to the rules that apply as well as the performance delivered. In the absence of information, accountability is near impossible. In pursuit of transparency and accountability, it is our duty, as a tertiary educational institution, to problematise, to make information available, to critically examine, and to analyse.

*Professor Lukas Muntingh is the Director of the Dullah Omar Institute for Constitutional Law, Governance and Human Rights at the University of the Western Cape. He is co-founder and Project Coordinator of Africa Criminal Justice Reform (ACJR). Prof Muntingh holds a PhD (Law) from UWC and an MA (Sociology) from Stellenbosch University.