Public Interest Litigation in South Africa offers a collection of grounded accounts - by leaders in the field - of the campaigns, cases, and causes that have defined key areas of public interest litigation in the country since the constitutional transition. The authors share their perspectives on the struggles led by people, communities, activists, and civil society organisations to realise the vision of the Constitution. This volume captures the legal narratives of those particular struggles in the hope that this will contribute to the broader, ongoing struggle for social justice. Part One of the book considers general themes relating to public interest litigation. These include its history, the development of the public interest sector and the impact and value of public interest litigation; the role of international law in public interest litigation; the ethics and politics of public interest litigation; and constitutional procedure. Part Two addresses public interest litigation in ten key areas of law: property rights, gender, basic services, health care, LGBTI equality, children's rights, basic education, freedom of expression, access to information, and prisoners' rights. Public Interest Litigation in South Africa seeks to share some of what has been achieved in the courts, beyond the well-trodden landmark appellate decisions, as a contribution to informed and critical engagement with litigation as a tool for social change.

Since the Second World War, dignity has increasingly been recognized as an important moral and legal value. Although important examples of dignity-based arguments can be found in western European and North American case law and legal theory, the dignity jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court of South African is widely considered to be the most sweeping in the world. In part, this is related to the unique provisions of the South African Constitution in areas such as socioeconomic rights and allowing dignity to be taken into the sphere of economic justice as well as that of human rights. This book brings together the first sixteen years of constitutional jurisprudence addressing the meaning, role, and reach of dignity in the law of South Africa as a multiracial democracy. The case law is coupled with analysis from a range of selected contributors. The book will therefore be a crucial source for anyone seeking to evaluate dignity, whether in law or in human life more broadly.

Thousands of children from minority and disadvantaged groups will never cross the threshold of a classroom. What can human rights contribute to the struggle to ensure that every learner is able to access high quality education? This brilliant interdisciplinary collection explores how a human rights perspective offers new insights and tools into the current obstacles to education. It examines the role of private actors, the need to hold states to account for the quality of education, how to strike a balance between religion, culture and education, the innovative responses needed to guarantee girls' right to education and the role of courts. This unique book draws together contributors who have been deeply involved in this field from both developing and developed countries which enriches the understanding and remedial approaches to tackle current obstacles to universal education.