A partnership between the International Bar Association (IBA) and the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) has resulted in the creation of a unique enterprise: The Southern Africa Litigation Centre. The Centre has recently been joined by the international law firm of DLA Piper.

The Centre is located in Johannesburg, South Africa, and is designed to provide a focus on three principal areas: support for human rights cases; advice on Constitutional advocacy in the Southern African region; and training in human rights and rule of law issues. The Centre, in providing training, mentoring and facilities, will thus promote the effective implementation of human rights in the region.

The Centre, in partnership with local lawyers and human rights NGO’s, will identify the specific constitutional and human rights issues that can be most strategically litigated before the respective domestic courts. It is intended to be responsive to the immediate and individual needs of each jurisdiction.

Nonetheless, there are certain pressing human rights concerns that are identifiable throughout the region. For instance, civil society is required to operate in hostile environments in several of the nine states: the media must contend with heavy restriction and opposition groups are frequently repressed. Electoral processes in the region have often been conducted with alarming irregularities. Security and police forces all too often operate with a sense of immunity: if not actively abusing the rights of citizens then they often culpably omit to provide protection against violent crime. Courts in the region have also shown themselves to be sometimes frighteningly indifferent to the fate of many who appear before them. Prison conditions, particularly for awaiting-trial prisoners are, with very few exceptions, consistently appalling throughout the region.

The effects of the HIV/AIDS crisis continue to be catastrophically felt in southern Africa. Efforts to realize access to treatment and support for those affected by HIV/AIDS and efforts to prevent or slow transmission are of enormous importance in each of the nine countries. Access to land and its profit also remains the subject of controversial dispute in much of the region. Discriminatory laws and practices, particularly around inheritance, mean women especially are disadvantaged in making any lawful claims to property.

There are human rights lawyers taking up the challenge of these regional circumstances but they are few in number and must often go without assistance. The Centre in providing support, resources and training aims to increase the number of successful legal challenges that are brought.