South Africa LAWA Fellow 2003-2004 L.L.B., University of the Witwatersrand L.L.M., University of the Witwatersrand L.L.M., Georgetown University Law Center National Programme Officer UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Pretoria, South Africa Work Phone: 27 12 354 8683 Work Fax: 27 12 354 8681 Work email: jjoni@un.org.za

Affiliations: Law Society of the Northern Provinces. South African Women Lawyers Association.

Profile:

Ms. Joni is currently drafting legal opinions, mediating complaints at the South Africa Human Rights Commission and litigating complaints in front of Magistrates and the High Court. She regularly appears at investigative and public hearings and performs judicial acts on behalf of the Commission, including consultation with complainants, respondents, attorneys and government departments. She conducts constitutional research to support other departments of the Commission and mentors, trains and coaches legal interns and legal officers.

LAWA Experience:

Ms. Joni wrote her graduate research paper, “Women and HIV/AIDS in The Informal Workplaces of South Africa: The Failure of the Law to Protect Domestic Workers,” on the consequences of inadequate HIV/AIDS policies in South Africa. For her fellowship internship she worked on the Policy Project of The Futures Group in Washington, D.C.

Additional Experience:

Prior to LAWA, Ms. Joni was a researcher for Justice Yacoob of the Constitutional Court of South Africa in 2000. From 2000-2003, she worked as an attorney for the University of Witwatersrand Center for Applied Legal Studies’ AIDS Law Project, dealing with employment discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS. Following her fellowship, Ms. Joni worked for the South African Human Rights Commission from November 2004 to June 2005. In July 2005, she joined the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights as a National Programme officer on a one year contract, and was based in Pretoria, South Africa. On completion of the contract with the UN she went back to the South African Human Rights Commission where she is still employed as a Legal Practitioner.

Publications:

Joni J. “Another unfortunate interpretation of section 7(2) of the employment Equity Act,” South African Medical Journal; Vol. 90, No. 11:1102-1103. (2000)

Joni J and Heywood M. “Error in Judgment or failure of the judiciary to give clarity on the interpretation of the law,” AIDS Analysis Africa 12(3) Oct/Nov 2001, 11 & 16.

Joni J. “Access to medicines for HIV a human rights issue in the developing world,” Connecticut Journal of International Law (2002) Vol. 17, page 273.

Heywood M. and Joni J. “Judgment on Sec 7(2) of the Employment Equity Act creates uncertainty regarding HIV testing in the workplace,” 23 Industrial Law Journal 670-677 (2002).

Joni J. Case Note on “Irvin & Johnson Limited v Trawler & Line Fishing Union and Others” (to be published in the April 2003 Industrial Law Journal – only available in may 2003).

Joni J. HIV/AIDS IN THE WORKPLACE: Legal obligations towards employees living with HIV/AIDS. Shield newsletter, September 2003.

Joni J. Promoting the right to health care services for people living with HIV/ AIDS in Rural and peri-urban communities, in RIGHTING STIGMA: Exploring a right’s-based approach to addressing stigma, AIDS and Human Rights Research unit, University of Pretoria, 2005.