Human Rights Commission warns on Bill

[posted 16 May 2005, 1400]

The Human Rights Commission has warned that the Reconciliation Bill may be unconstitutional and in breach of the Human Rights Act.

The Commission is the latest to join other civil society bodies in denouncing the proposed Bill.

Director Shaista Shameem says government must refer the legal effects of the Bill to the Supreme Court for its opinion on whether the Bill complies with the Constitution and the Human Rights Act.

She warned that the provisions of the Bill could cause “havoc in the judicial system because two parallel processes may be going on at the same time with different courts ruling separately the applications before them, one from an individual and one from the Unity commission”.