Gender Commission receives information from the National Department of Health
On the 24th February 2020, the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) launched an investigative report on forced/coerced sterilisation. This report was borne out of the complaint that the Women’s Legal Centre (WLC) lodged with the Commission on behalf of Her Rights Initiative (HRI), and International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW).
The report made findings and recommendations to the National Department of Health (NDOH), Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) and South African Nursing Council (SANC). The three entities were given three months to furnish the Gender Commission with plans on how they were going to implement the recommendations as outlined in the report.
Both HPCSA and SANC did respond to the Gender Commission on the stipulated time, however, NDOH requested for extension until the 31st August 2020. On the agreed date, the NDOH failed to submit the requested information once again and as a result the Gender Commission placed the NDOH in MORA. The department have since submitted the requested information on Monday, 12 October 2020.
Amongst the information submitted is the implementation plan on how to address the findings and the recommendations as outlined in the investigative report on forced/coerced sterilization.
