SALUTATIONS
Thank you Director of Ceremonies Mr Sheuneni Kurasha for a great start .
- Chair of Chairpersons Hon Daila Onani
- Chairpersons of SADC PF Regional Standing Committees and the RWPC
- Heads and Representatives of Anti-Corruption Agencies of SADC Member States
- Heads and Representatives of National Human Rights Institutions of SADC Member States
- Heads and Representatives of Prosecution Authorities of SADC Member States
- Heads and Representatives Police Investigation Units
- Clerks and Secretaries General of SADC National Parliaments
- SADC Lawyers Association
- DGHR TWG Members
- Officials from the SADC Secretariat
- Representatives of Civil Society Organisations
- Distinguished Resource Persons
- SADC PF Secretariat Staff
- Staff of National Parliaments
- Distinguished Participants and Youth online
I. Introduction
It is with outmost humility and gratitude that I appear before you today to open this momentous meeting during the Pre-testing phase of the knowledge tools which are under development at the level of the Forum.
Today and tomorrow, we meet to discuss 2 cardinal knowledge tools which add to the Forum's Bill of rights and bring new perspective and directional guidance to the developmental discourse.
In turn, we shall deliberate and engage on the Principles and Guidelines for Parliament in Curbing Corruption, which will be discussed during Sessions I and II, and tomorrow, we shall turn to the Principles and Guidelines for Parliaments in the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the SADC region, which will be addressed during Session III as per the circulated programme.
After all, human rights and the anti-corruption framework are interlinked themes and we feel it is apt that we are able to address both knowledge tools under the umbrella of a single event which would enable participants to focus and comment on common issues such as form, presentation styles and contextualisation.
We are confident that by the end of this meeting tomorrow, the Forum and national Parliaments will be further enriched by the depth and variety of the deliberations which would have assisted to prune and refine both knowledge tools in view of proceeding for further validation.
II. Why have these knowledge tools been developed?
As you are well aware, the Forum has, since its inception, been a longstanding proponent of human rights and democratization for Southern Africa and beyond. To attest the Forum's commitment to implement human rights, the respect for a culture of human rights has been enshrined as a central guiding principle of the Forum's Strategic Plan. Equally, there is also a core objective in the Strategic Plan to promote prudential planning and good governance, which are necessarily outcomes of a corruption-free environment.
The Forum promotes both civil and political rights and socio-economic human rights, as contained in the African Charter (also known as the Banjul Charter), with an understanding that all human rights are interconnected and interdependent. Socio-economic human rights are also heavily hindered in societies which are plagued by corruption, hence the need to address corruption first to create the clean slate necessary for human rights to prosper.
As you may be aware, these tools have been developed following different experiences and observations garnered at the level of the Standing Committees of the Forum, whereby it was felt that there is sometimes a disconnect between parliamentary work, the anti-corruption framework and the implementation of human rights.
Yet, these 3 themes are directly related.
Without freedom of movement and the right of 1 person to 1 vote, there would be no free vote cast in favour of elected representatives.
The prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sex or gender is the human right standard which enables all women to vote at par with men.
Without the right to privacy, there would be secret votes, that is no confidentiality in relation to votes that are cast.
Without the notion of equal treatment before the law, there would be no belief in the rule of law such that electoral commissions would function independently.
Without freedom of association, there would be no political parties and people gatherings.
Without a strong anti-corruption framework, elections could have been rigged through bribes and fraud.
In addition, corruption is a fertile ground for all State institutions to fail, thus having a cascading effect on Parliament.
The Principles and Guidelines thus also acknowledge that representative democracy expressed through both an anti-corruption framework and a culture of human rights are like the 2 weights which cling on both sides to keep the balancing scale of parliamentarism in equilibrium.
Around the world, Parliaments are thus inclined to strengthen the anti-corruption framework and the respect for human rights since these represent the only true guarantee for Parliament as an institution to be properly reconstituted after term.
Accordingly, and in line with its Strategic Plan and objectives, the Forum has stood guided by its Membership to develop the Principles and Guidelines in the form of knowledge tools in view of internalization by national Parliaments.
III. Why are we pre-testing the knowledge tools?
Today, we are initiating the pre-testing phase because we believe that your voice is important and valuable to the finalization of these key knowledge tools. You are the implementers at national level and thus it is of paramount importance that you are given an opportunity to make a critical evaluation of the effectiveness of the knowledge tools prior to their formal launch.
We are of course conscious that sovereign Parliaments have different processes on how tools can be internalized and allowances need to be made in that respect. Consultation at this stage is thus imperative to ensure that the Principles and Guidelines befit the SADC context, and are adapted such that each Parliament can make optimum use of them and domesticate same in close collaboration with partners.
The Pre-testing phase is also essential to promote an appreciation of what can be implemented at domestic level, such that necessary adaptations can be appropriately discussed at this penultimate stage of the finalization process. We are mindful that the drafters of both these knowledge tools have made formidable efforts to come up with such instruments within a limited time frame, yet we are also aware that pre-testing is essential to ensure a comprehensive acceptance of the tools at domestic level.
The Forum therefore invites you to participate abundantly to this pre-testing phase and ensure that the Knowledge tools developed are in such form and content that they find acceptance within the boundaries of your national Parliaments. You are thus the gatekeepers of this process in addition to being custodians of parliamentary processes at domestic level.
IV. How can this tool be utilized?
This tool is intended to be used as principles and guidelines which safeguard parliamentary action and ensure that legislation, budgets, oversight and representative actions are informed in view of advancing the anti-corruption framework and the promote human rights.
The 18 summary principles which inform the anti-corruption tool and the 8 summary principles which underlie the human rights tool are democratic safeguards that would ensure that all parliamentary action, especially legislation, are guided by the overriding need to ensure that these principles are taken into account. These principles may or may not already prevail in domestic Constitutions, but in case they are not, the principles will guide the way in ensuring that laws and other parliamentary action are human-rights friendly and take into consideration the need to preserve a robust anti-corruption framework.
This tool is also not destined only for MPs but also for Line Ministries, civil society organisations and other stakeholders which may interact directly or indirectly with Parliament since the anti-corruption framework and the implementation of human rights are universal concerns for each and every citizen.
In addition, I wish to emphasise that the knowledge tools must be read together, and in accordance with, other developed Forum instruments such as the recently developed SADC Model Law on Gender-Based Violence, SADC Model Law on Elections and the SADC Model Law on Public Financial Management, as they also contain relevant safeguards which are necessary to preserve the social fabric in a functioning democracy. All Model Laws developed by the Forum also contain a Preamble which provides for a human rights approach to legislation and they accord with the developed knowledge tools, which are thus to be used as additional material in unpacking and domesticating the Model laws.
The Knowledge tools therefore supplement the Bills of the Rights of the Forum. In particular, you will find that the human rights knowledge tool supplements the Model Law on Child Marriage, the Model on GBV and the Minimum Standards for KPs, whilst the anti-corruption knowledge tool complements the SADC Model Law on Public Financial Management.
Altogether, the Forum is thus following a linear path towards perfecting its normative legal standards and developing knowledge tools to assist Parliaments in implementing them.
V. End remarks and Way forward
During today's session, you will thus be expected to critically consider the tools developed and give recommendations which may be incorporated such that the tool be further considered and validated by the Joint Session of the SADC PF Standing Committees', and thereupon by the Plenary Assembly of the SADC-PF, to be held in Arusha, Tanzania in July, 2023.
Allow me to appreciate the financial support and contribution of the Sweden Government in collaborating with the SADC PF on this important democratic drive.
We look forward to your active engagement and critical thinking during this pivotal exercise.
With these words, I wish you a pleasant session.
Thank you for your kind attention.
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Ms B.Sekgoma,
Secretary General,
SADC-PF
6th February 2023
