Secretariat helps Swaziland prepare for human rights evaluation

The Commonwealth Secretariat has continued to assist Swaziland in preparing for its first Universal Periodic Review (UPR) human rights evaluation, through a workshop for government officials and civil society and non-governmental organisations.

A team from the Secretariat's Human Rights Unit (HRU) facilitated a national UPR consultative workshop in Ezulwini, Swaziland, from 21 to 22 June 2011.

The workshop was attended by senior government officials, including Swaziland's Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Reverend David Mathse, and key stakeholders from civil society and non-governmental organisations.

The UPR is a review of the human rights records of all 192 UN member states and takes place once every four years.

The Southern African nation will present its UPR report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, in July 2011 and field questions on it in October 2011. Swaziland's experience of preparing country reports for committees of independent experts that monitor the implementation of core international treaties has so far been limited to the submission of a country report on the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 2005.

Reverend Mathse said: "We appreciate the Commonwealth Secretariat's commitment to helping us in Swaziland, particularly because the development of our constitution is at an early stage.

"The workshop went very well and the participation and depth of discussion was very intense. There were stakeholders from various government departments and civil society organisations, and it was enlightening to look at issues from different angles.

"We hope it will take us a step forward in preparing for Geneva in October."

The workshop created an awareness and understanding of the importance of the UPR in promoting and protecting human rights in Swaziland; encouraged broad consultation with stakeholders, including the National Human Rights Institution and civil society; elicited comments, suggestions and recommendations from participants to improve the draft UPR report; garnered support from key stakeholders such as civil society and traditional leaders; and promoted constructive dialogue between government and civil society organisations.

Karen McKenzie, Human Rights Adviser with HRU, who led the mission said: "Engagement was constructive around a number of the burning human rights issues confronting government currently - some of these issues have been pending for a while and most of them relate to the constitution and the lack of its full implementation as well as non-alignment of legislation and policy with the constitution.

"Participants were desirous of increased opportunities to engage constructively with government and, after addressing the workshop participants, the minister of justice remained to observe as well as to engage on a human rights issue that is important to Swazis, namely the right to land, land tenure and the right of women to access land."

Following the workshop, Reverend Mathse said the Swaziland government has requested further assistance from the Secretariat to develop a roadmap for the implementation of the country's constitution.

The latest mission follows a capacity-building workshop held in January 2011 by the Secretariat to help Swaziland engage effectively with the UPR process.

The Government of Swaziland has followed recommendations coming out of the January workshop, including setting up a National UPR Steering Committee, for the collation of relevant data and the compilation of the first draft of the country report.

In addition, Reverend Mathse attended the Human Rights Council session in January/February 2011 and participated in the Interactive Dialogue - where the state under review makes a presentation and replies to questions.