CFAS

The General Assembly of the United Nations, in a resolution adopted by consensus on 10 November 2009 by its 192 member States, has instituted a "Nelson Mandela International Day " to commemorate every year his contribution to promoting a culture of peace.

The UN resolution evokes the eminent role played by Nelson Mandela, winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1993, in the "resolution of conflicts, inter-racial relations, promotion of human rights, reconciliation and gender equality ".

The United Nations Conference on Climate Change, to be held in Copenhagen from 7 to 18 December 2009, is expected to set up a fund to assist developing countries to acquire the techniques needed to fight against global warming.

South Africa, as in the case of France, supports this initiative, confirmed by the meeting of Commonwealth States held in Trinidad and Tobago on 28 November 2009.

Like most big nations, South Africa has a Ministry of the Environment, which is becoming increasingly mobilized. It also has an active civil society, strengthened by the opening of a Greenpeace Office in Johannesburg one year ago.

Finally, it will be noted that sixteen South African parliamentarians participated in the Forum of legislators on Climate Change, held in Copenhagen at the end of October 2009.

A treaty succeeding the Kyoto Protocol adopted in 1997 on greenhouse gas emissions is expected in France and South Africa.

President Jacob Zuma' speech on World AIDS Day (1/12/2009)

New measures announced by Jacob Zuma are:

"To take our response a step forward, we are launching a massive campaign to mobilise all South Africans to get tested for HIV ".

"Every South African should know his or her HIV status. To prepare for a continuous voluntary testing campaign, we would like to announce a few new measures, to expand our response ".

"All children under one year of age will get treatment if they test positive. Initiating treatment will therefore not be determined by the level of CD cells ".

"This decision will contribute significantly towards the reduction of infant mortality over time ".

"All patients with both tuberculosis (TB) and HIV will get treatment with antiretrovirals if their CD4 count is 350 or less. At present treatment is available when the CD4 count is less than 200. TB and HIV/AIDS will now be treated under one roof ".

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"This policy change will address early reported deaths arising from undetected TB infection among those who are infected with HIV ".

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"We have taken this step, particularly on learning that approximately 1% of our population has TB and that the coinfection between TB and HIV is 73% ".

"All pregnant HIV positive women with a CD4 count of 350 or with symptoms regardless of CD4 count will have access to treatment. At present HIV positive pregnant women are eligible for treatment if their CD4 count is less than 200 ".

"All other pregnant women not falling into this category, but who are HIV positive, will be put on treatment at fourteen weeks of pregnancy to protect the baby. In the past this was only started during the last term of pregnancy ".

"In order to meet the need for testing and treatment, we will work to ensure that all the health institutions in the country are ready to receive and assist patients and not just a few accredited ARV centres. Any citizen should be able to move into any health centre and ask for counselling, testing and even treatment if needed ".

"The implementation of all these announcements is effective from April 2010. Institutions are hard at work to ensure that systems are in place by the 31st of March ".

"All other pregnant women not falling into this category, but who are HIV positive, will be put on treatment at fourteen weeks of pregnancy to protect the baby. In the past this was only started during the last term of pregnancy ".

"In order to meet the need for testing and treatment, we will work to ensure that all the health institutions in the country are ready to receive and assist patients and not just a few accredited ARV centres. Any citizen should be able to move into any health centre and ask for counselling, testing and even treatment if needed ".

"The implementation of all these announcements is effective from April 2010. Institutions are hard at work to ensure that systems are in place by the 31st of March ".

The most prestigious French literary prize has been awarded to Marie Ndiaye for her novel "Trois femmes puissantes ", published by Gallimard.

Three women – Norah, Fanta and Khady Demba – take a firm stand and fight to preserve their dignity.

Three female characters are described in a brisk style, and like the new Goncourt Prize winner, they have joined the resistance.

Marie Ndiaye is the author of about a dozen books, including plays that are now included in the repertory of the Comédie Française.

The memory of the militant anti-apartheid lawyer Bram Fischer, who died in detention in 1975, has been honoured for several years by a cycle of lectures inaugurated by Nelson Mandela in 1995, organized by the Legal Resources Centre. Bram Fischer was one of Nelson Mandela's defenders during the major trial of Rivonia (1963).

This year, on 13 December 2009 at the Gordon Institute near Johannesburg, the President of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, Margaret Marshall, who was born in South Africa and used to be a leader of the South African Students' Union, talked about the independence of justice.

Margaret Marshall, who is also President of the Conference of Chief Justices of the United States, highlighted in a concrete way the notion of "transformative justice".

Justice must be delivered in an effective manner, it must protect and instigate changes in the everyday life of those who appeal to it.

The former Chief Justice of South Africa, Arthur Chaskalson, founder of the Legal Resources Centre, George Bizos, former lawyer of Nelson Mandela, and a well-known international jurist, and Nadine Gordimer, winner of a Nobel Prize for Literature, attended this lecture.

The French Committee for South Africa was represented at this event.