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The Rights of Rastafari Roundtable is underway in Johannesburg. The Roundtable comes after the Commission received systematic nature of complaints on human rights violations from the Rastafari community.
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) will convene its first Rights of Rastafari Roundtable in Johannesburg this morning.
The discussion aims to address concerns raised by the Rastafarian community regarding ongoing marginalisation, discrimination, and criminalisation despite constitutional protections.
SAHRC spokesperson Wisani Baloyi says members of the community have shared experiences of feeling unrecognised and unprotected under South African law.
“Over the past several months, the commission, under the equality focal areas, has held dialogues with the Rastafari communities. In this dialogue, there have been a number of stories of unlawful cannabis-related arrests, high unemployment rates due to criminal records stemming from historical cannabis-related convictions, school expulsion over children’s dreadlocks, and systematic exclusion from the rapidly growing cannabis industry,” says Baloyi.
#Roundtable| SAHRC’s Commissioner Tshepo Madlingozi giving a background and introduction as the Roundtable on the rights of the Rastafari community gets underway in Johannesburg. pic.twitter.com/Rh2ZCOOwj7
— SAHRCommission (@SAHRCommission) February 26, 2025
