South Africa: An alternative Report to the CAT on the ESCR root causes of violence
This report seeks to assist the Committee Against Torture inreviewing the report of South Africa by providing information on some of theelements affecting the relationship between failures to enjoy economic, socialand cultural rights and violence in South Africa over the past ten years.Action against torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment can best beundertaken in light of the root causes affecting the whole spectrum ofviolence, from domestic and community violence to the extremes of torture andother forms of ill-treatment that are directly within the Committee’s mandate.
It also seeks to respond to the call by the High Commissioner forHuman Rights “…for further efforts to promote integrated strategies for thepromotion and protection of human rights, moving away from a rigidcategorization of rights to a comprehensive understanding that can betterachieve improvements in the enjoyment of all human rights by all."[1]
[1] Ms. Louise Arbour, Preface Attacking the Root Causes of Torture:Poverty, Inequality and Violence, An Interdisciplinary Study OMCT Geneva 2006