“…Any definition of a culture of peace must address the problem of achieving justice for communities and individuals who do not have the means to compete or cope without structured assistance and compassionate help.” – Mahnaz Afkhani, “Reflections on Working Toward Peace”.
Monday 1 April
SECTION27 is in the Pietermaritzburg high court today. We represent the Disabled People’s Organisation, Siphilisa Isizwe, who are the amicus curiae. Equal Education had set Scholar Transportation the matter down on the urgent role, arguing that government has failed to comply to the original 2017 court order wherein it was agreed that the province would finalise their provincial scholar transport policy, which would include learners with disabilities. The policy has still not been published. It is however unlikely that the substantive issues will be heard today as there is a procedural issue that is being argued today.
Spotlight co-editors Marcus Low and Anso Thom will be in Bangkok, Thailand this week to participate in the “Bridging the tuberculosis and the access to medicines communities: civil society strategy and capacity building meeting on innovation and intellectual property for TB medicines, vaccines, and diagnostic technologies” organized by Treatment Action Group (TAG). The general objective of the meeting will be to bridge the TB and the access and innovation communities in order to better coordinate and strengthen our efforts to improve access to existing and future TB medicines and diagnostics and to develop concepts with potential to accelerate TB innovation. Marcus and Anso are members of the Global TB Community Advisory Board and will be moderating some of the sessions. The main workshop will be preceded by a one day training on intellectual property and access to medicines.
Tuesday 2 April
Communications Officer, Zukiswa Pikoli will be participating in a panel discussion on ‘the state of social justice in South Africa’ as part of an induction programme for undergraduate journalism students from Northwestern University’s media studies faculty – Medill, USA. The group will be in South Africa on a 2 months internship at various media houses.
Wednesday 3 April
SECTION27 will be hosting a STAKEHOLDER SUMMIT TO LAUNCH A CIVIL SOCIETY CAMPAIGN TO FIGHT CANCER. The Cancer Alliance and Treatment Action Campaign are planning to bring together stakeholders to launch a civil society campaign to demand equal rights for people living with cancer. To save lives we need to make a concerted effort in the same way as we did for HIV; we need to create national awareness around the urgency of cancer and its affects, as well demand that government take steps to ensure that cancer care and treatment is affordable.
To attend please RSVP to: advocacy@canceralliance.co.za
Thursday 4 April
SECTION27 represented the South Africa National Council for the Blind and others v Minister of Basic Education and Others 72622/201 regarding the settlement agreement that was signed in September 2018. The agreement stated that the Dept of Basic Education was to ensure that all CAPS aligned braille textbooks were to be made available for the 2019 school year made an order of court. This will be made an order of court on 4 April 2019.
Saturday 6 April
SECTION27 will be having its fourth Activist Leadership school session from 10:00-12:30 convened by former Executive Director Mark Heywood. This session will be facilitated by Dr. Alicia Ely Yamin, and the topic of discussion will be ‘Fulfilling the Right to Health – why aren’t we making sufficient progress?’ Dr. Yamin, currently leads the Global Health and Rights Project, a joint collaboration between the Petrie-Flom Center on Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Ethics at Harvard Law School and the Global Health Education and Learning Incubator at Harvard University.
To attend:
RSVP – Bongi Mtshelu
mtshelu@section27.org.za
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