The Geneva Conventions and South African law

Assessment of how South African law implements the Geneva Conventions

South Africa’s adoption of the Implementation of the Geneva Conventions Act, 2012 (Act 8 of 2012) (Geneva Conventions Act) comes as a welcome addition to the country’s legal landscape. Apart from criminalising a variety of offences as war crimes under domestic law, the Act also brings the doctrine of command responsibility to South African law, and places a duty on the authorities to investigate and prosecute those who are suspected of war crime violations, including superiors.

However, given how long it took South Africa to enact this legislation, questions remain about the interplay between some of the Act’s provisions and preceding legislation in the form of South Africa’s International Criminal Court Act.

One notable advance offered by the Geneva Conventions Act is the possibility of its utilisation with regard to apartheid crimes committed prior to South Africa’s democratisation and other international crimes committed before 2002.

About the author

Max du Plessis is a senior research associate with the International Crime in Africa Programme (ICAP) at the ISS. He is also an Associate Professor of Law at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and a member of the KwaZulu-Natal Bar with special expertise in international law, constitutional law and administrative law. Max has written widely in the fields of international criminal law and human rights. He is an associate tenant at Doughty Street Chambers, London.