Human Rights Watch writes to Secretary of State Clinton in advance of her seven-nation tour of Africa to urge her to emphasize good governance, respect for human rights, and the rule of law.

Human Rights Watch writes to President-elect Jacob Zuma to urge him to make human rights a major pillar of the new South African administration's foreign policy.

In August 2008, Human Rights Watch wrote to South African Deputy President Ms. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka to strongly encourage her to consider and remedy deficiencies in the delivery of life-saving Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) to non-citizen and mobile populations in South Africa.

The National Council of Provinces is currently deliberating on the Refugee Amendment Bill, which will be returned to your committee for final consideration before it is presented to the National Assembly. We write to urge you to utilize this opportunity to ensure that the right to access health services is explicitly included in the Bill in line with the South African constitution and international human rights law.

Human Rights Watch voices concerns about new trends in South Africa’s foreign policy, as witnessed in the UN Security Council and UN Human Rights Council.

On South Africa’s National Women’s Day, I write on behalf of Human Rights Watch to express our concern over the recent murders of three women: Sizakele Sigasa, Salome Masooa, and Thokozane Qwabe. Thokozane Qwabe’s body was found on July 22; Sizakele Sigasa and Salome Masooa’s bodies were found on July 8. All three women were lesbians. These women may be the latest victims of a pattern of violence against lesbians who are targeted in their families and communities on the basis of their sexual orientation. Human Rights Watch calls upon the South African government to honor National Women’s Day by ensuring those responsible for the murders are brought to justice and by affirming that all women, regardless of their sexual orientation, should be entitled to equality and safety.

We are writing to express our concern over the proposed Civil Union Bill 2006, due for consideration by Parliament on October 20, 2006. Rather than extending the status of civil marriage to lesbian and gay couples, the bill would create a “civil partnership” that is defined as the “voluntary union between two adult persons of the same sex to the exclusion, while it lasts, of all others.”