By Amy Musgrave
A global human rights report released by the US State Department has been rejected by the South African government, which says it is an inaccurate and deeply flawed account that fails to reflect the reality of the country’s constitutional democracy.
President Donald Trump’s administration has softened criticism of some countries that have been strong partners of the Republican president, such as El Salvador and Israel.
Instead, the 2024 Human Rights Report sounds the alarm about the erosion of freedom of speech in Europe and increased criticism of countries including Brazil and South Africa, which Washington has clashed with over various issues.
According to an executive summary of the report on South Africa, the human rights situation in the country “significantly worsened” with the signing of Expropriation Bill on land into law.
It said this was a “substantially worrying” step towards land expropriation of Afrikaners and further abuses against racial minorities in the country.
Significant human rights issues also included “credible reports” of arbitrary or unlawful killings, arbitrary arrests or detentions, and the repression of racial minorities.
“The government did not take credible steps to investigate, prosecute and punish officials who committed human rights abuses, including inflammatory racial rhetoric against Afrikaners and other racial minorities, or violence against racial minorities,” the summary reads.
The International Relations and Cooperation Department said in a statement that the document’s reliance on a-contextual information and discredited accounts was highly concerning.
“It cites an incident involving the deaths of farm workers and, despite the matter being actively adjudicated by our independent judiciary, misleadingly (it) presents it as an extrajudicial killing. This is not only premature, but a fundamental distortion of the facts, as the individuals are formally arraigned before a court of law.
“Similarly, incidents of police using force are mentioned without acknowledging the robust processes in place where institutions designed to protect our democracy are actively investigating whether due process was followed and if such force was warranted,” the department said.
It said that South Africa operated under a transparent system where information was freely available from law enforcement agencies and Chapter 9 institutions, which were constitutionally mandated to protect and advance human rights.
It was “ironic” that a report from a nation that withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council and, therefore, no longer considered itself accountable in a multilateral peer review system, would seek to produce one sided fact free reports without any due process or engagement, the department said.
“This is particularly striking given the significant and documented concerns about human rights within the United States, including the treatment of refugees and breaches in due process by its own agencies such as ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).”
The department noted a recent assessment from the UN Human Rights Office, which said the Expropriation Act was a critical step in addressing the country’s racially imbalanced land ownership.
It said that this recognition underscored the integrity of the country’s legislative processes that were aimed at rectifying historical injustices in a constitutional and human rights-based manner.
The government is compiling a set of documents that will be released to the public later in the week to provide a “complete and accurate picture”.
In the meantime, the department has shared news articles that it said corrected distortions in the report and set the record straight on South Africa’s commitment to human rights.
Also, it said the country remained open to addressing the distortions through diplomatic channels.
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