By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Amnesty International South Africa, the Ukrainian Association of South Africa and the Helen Suzman Foundation are set to picket outside the BRICS summit in Sandton on Tuesday.
Leaders from the BRICS economic bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will hold three days of meetings in Sandton, with Chinese premier Xi Jinping’s attendance underlining the diplomatic capital his country has invested in the bloc over the last decade-and-a-bit as an avenue for its ambitions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will appear on a video link after his travel to South Africa was complicated by an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against him over the war in Ukraine. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will be at the summit alongside Xi.
The main summit on Wednesday — and sideline meetings Tuesday and Thursday — are expected to produce general calls for more cooperation among countries in the Global South amid their rising discontent over perceived Western dominance of global institutions.
That’s a sentiment that Russia and China are more than happy to lean into. Leaders or representatives of dozens more developing countries are set to attend the sideline meetings in Africa’s wealthiest city to give Xi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who will represent Putin in South Africa, a sizeable audience.
One specific policy point with more direct implications will be discussed and possibly decided on — the proposed expansion of the BRICS bloc, which was formed in 2009 by the emerging market countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China, and added South Africa the following year.
Saudi Arabia is one of more than 20 countries to have formally applied to join BRICS in another possible expansion. Any move toward the inclusion of the world’s second-biggest oil producer in an economic bloc with Russia and China would clearly draw attention from the United States and its allies in an extra-frosty geopolitical climate, and amid a recent move by Beijing to exert some influence in the Persian Gulf.
Amnesty International South Africa’s Executive Director Shenilla Mohamed said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a flagrant violation of the United Nations Charter.
“The Russian government is not only violating international humanitarian and human rights law in its war of aggression against Ukraine but its crackdown on people in Russia who are speaking out about the invasion goes against the rights to freedom of expression and assembly which South Africa and its constitution pride itself on.
“We are calling on world leaders attending the BRICS summit to uphold human rights by demanding that Russian authorities stop the act of aggression against Ukraine and end attacks on civilians now. They must also call on the Russian authorities to stop violating people’s right to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression in their own countries,” said Mohamed.
Meanwhile officers have been told to enforce the law while giving a warm welcome to guests attending the Brics summit in Sandton, Johannesburg, from Tuesday.
Police minister Bheki Cele and national commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola addressed a parade of law enforcement officers at Innesfree Park in Sandton on Monday.
“We are not undermining and watering down the seriousness of this event. I am told 51 heads of state and government have been confirmed to be here. That’s not a small number of heads of governments.
“The people who will be here represent 40% of the world [population]. To have 40% of the world in one country is a serious challenge. But we are not scared and nobody should be scared. We are ready,” he said.
According to the latest crime stats released on Friday, women and children are still the main victims of crime. Cele commanded the officers to make sure this group feels safe.