About this Series:
Although the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a global covenant that is over 72 years old, human rights in South Africa (SA) was only institutionalised with the advent of democracy 27 years ago. On 29 October 1998, Archbishop Desmond Tutu handed the Report of the TRC, which he chaired, to President Nelson Mandela. The TRC held that abundant evidence exists that the due care of patients in SA, particularly of the most vulnerable, was found wanting. Subsequent events have demonstrated that our health and human resources sectors, which psychology forms a critical part of, have been sliding into profound crisis, exacerbated by prevailing socioeconomic and political factors.
This series of three webinars will trace human rights from antiquity, indicate the relevance in underpinning the nascent culture of human rights and its inextricable nexus with our ethical codes across all categories and areas of psychological involvement. In so doing, the case will be made for us – as scarce and priority interveners in a fractured society – to be constantly vigilant in our assessment, diagnosis and treatment recommendations, especially of the worst off amongst us, as a necessary adjunct to appropriate and independent professional judgment and conduct. Thus will we restore hope that there is an indispensable discipline which can provide a moral compass in murky and choppy seas.