By Barbara Whittle

At its annual general meeting following the conference in Zimbabe, the SADC Lawyers Association (SADC LA) adopted draft SADC Minimum Standard Guidelines for the Treatment and Management of Detainees. These have been made available to member law societies and Bar associations.

The guidelines aim to apply to the management of detainees in pre-trial detention, awaiting sentence and to those serving sentences following a legally recognised trial through a national court system of a SADC country. Places of detention where such detainees are held include police cells and correctional facilities housing either remand detainees or those serving prison terms. The guidelines do not apply to the management of detainees held in terms of military disciplinary or court martial proceedings or any proceedings outside of the nationally recognised criminal justice delivery system.

The SADC LA Executive elected at the conference in August is as follows:

• Gilberto Caldeira Correia, President (Mozambique);
• James Banda, Vice-President (Zambia);
• Max Boqwana, Treasurer (South Africa);
• Binta Hazel Tobedza, Committee Member (Botswana); and
• Nkoya Thabane, Committee Member (Lesotho).
• Copies of documents and presentations made at the SADC LA conference and AGM – where these have been made available by the presenters – can be accessed on the SADC LA website at sadcla.org or requested from Chantelle de Sousa at chantelle@sadcla.org

Barbara Whittle, barbara@LSSA.org.za

This article was first published in De Rebus in 2014 (Oct) DR 20.