Supreme Courts of the Global South
Study analyzes the role of the highest courts of Brazil, India and South Africa
STF - Supremo Tribunal Federal (Valter Campanato/Agência Brasil)
The Pretoria University Law Press (Pulp) has published a new 28-chapter study on the workings of the highest courts of Brazil, India and South Africa, the three members of the IBSA Dialogue Forum.
The publication is the result of the collaborative research project “Justiciability of Human Rights – a comparative analysis: South Africa, Brazil and India”, which was coordinated by Conectas and involved a judge, academics and human rights defenders from these three countries. The team was coordinated in South Africa by Professor Frans Viljoen, in Brazil by Professor Oscar Vilhena Vieira and in India by Professor Upendra Baxi.
In addition to descriptions of the workings of these courts and analyses of civil society strategies to propose cases for them to hear, the publication also carries thematic articles on: women’s rights and heteronormativity, religious freedom, the right to health, social movements and organized civil society, among others.
“This book represents an effort by human rights academics and activists to consider the constitutions of Brazil, India and South Africa as fundamental instruments in the promotion of rights and the consolidation of democracy in these countries. This transformational ideal makes this publication essential reading,” said Juana Kweitel, program director at Conectas.
“All three countries chose to depart from the past – a past of colonialism, apartheid or military regimes – through a constitutional process. These processes resulted in bold constitutional documents that not only aim at regulating the distribution of power, the organization of a system of representation, and the definition of individual rights, but which also aspire to establish a new political and moral foundation for each society,” reads the introduction to the study, which also provides a summary of each of the 28 chapters.
Read the book:
