PATTERNS OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

In contrast to the human rights abuses in the first two categories, violations of the obligation to protect are triggered by the actions of non-state actors. Under international human rights law, a government has the obligation to protect its citizens and to prevent individuals and groups from perpetrating human rights violations.¹¹⁷ In South Africa, the actions by non-state actors often reflected state policies. The violations described below deprived South Africans of basic civil and political rights outlined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as well as the rights to health and health care enumerated in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. ¹¹⁸

1. Failure to protect against non-state violence or prosecute perpetrators

· Members of progressive health organizations were often harassed, threatened, or even murdered.¹¹⁹

· During the 1985/1986 political unrest, doctors "allegedly donned camouflage uniforms and went on nocturnal raids with vigilantes."¹²⁰

· "Alexandria Clinic had been the target of petrol bombs on several occasions in the mid-1980s. Many people believe that the clinic was targeted because it provided services to those in the community who protested the government's policies. The individuals responsible for the petrol bombs were never apprehended; however, some employees at the clinic believe that the security police were behind the attacks. They came to this conclusion because witnesses had described the perpetrators as white at times when the township was sealed off by police, thus making it difficult for other whites to come and go freely without being noticed."¹²¹
· Doctors who treated detainees received death threats. For example, Ruth Benjamin, a clinical psychologist who spoke out about the treatment of detainees, reported that in 1991 individuals made threatening phone calls, broke into her car on one occasion and held her and her daughter at gunpoint on another.¹²²

· Homosexuals and drug users in the military were coerced into undergoing experimental treatment. In one case, a homosexual victim was alleged to have been induced to receive aversion therapy in order to reprogram him in exchange for having to forego drug detoxification treatment. "The context was clearly one of being experimented upon, and consent appeared to have been obtained under circumstances of coercion."¹²³

· The KTC clinic at the Xolani Center Crossroads was burned down by government supported Witdoek (a group of township men also known as the "Fathers") vigilantes in 1987.¹²⁴

· "The Security Police took action against many people who opposed apartheid and apartheid health care. The Health Department did nothing to protect these individuals or protest their situation. Worse though is that people known by [the Health Department] to actively oppose apartheid, were discriminated against in terms of things such as intern placements and jobs within the State sector."¹²⁵

· During periods of unrest, mobile police stations were set up outside hospitals. Sometimes hospitals were shut down.¹²⁶

· During the State of Emergency, people who were injured as a result of clashes with the police were arrested when they went to seek treatment. In some instances, township residents were unable to get to hospitals in towns because the townships were sealed off by police. In other instances people were afraid to get into ambulances because of reports that they went to the police station rather than to the hospital.¹²⁷

· NAMDA members were repeatedly harassed and threatened.

NOTES

¹¹⁶ Eide, Asbjorn, Catarina Krause and Allan Rosas. Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, p. 37, 1995.

¹¹⁷ Id.

¹¹⁸ CESCR. Article 12.

¹¹⁹ AAAS, p. 13.

¹²⁰ van Speyk, V. Submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, May 1997, p. 1.

¹²¹ University of Witwatersrand, p. 34.

¹²² Id. p. 38.

¹²³ HHRP. Supra note 37, Involvement by Military Health Personnel…p. 45; para. 4-5.

¹²⁴ Id., Health Professionals as Victims of HR Abuses; p. 5; para. 3

¹²⁵ Department of Health, p. 21.

¹²⁶ Progressive Doctors' Group in respect of the National Medical and Dental Association. Submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, May 1997, p. 7-8. Hereinafter "Progressive Doctors' Group - NAMDA".

¹²⁷ Department of Health, p. 13.