Minister Zizi Kodwa welcomes European Court of Human Rights decision on Caster Semenya appeal
11 July 2023
Department of Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Zizi Kodwa welcomes the decision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which vindicates Caster Semenya’s fight for her dignity and reinforces the call for the protection of women’s rights in sport.
On Tuesday, 11 July 2023, the ECHR ruled in the case of Semenya vs Switzerland that “there had been a violation of the prohibition of discrimination taken together with the right to respect for private life as well as a violation of the right to an effective remedy”.
The context of this case relates to Ms Semenya’s fight against World Athletics Regulations on Female Athletes with Differences of Sexual Development (DSD), which compelled her to take testosterone level reducing hormone treatment to be able to compete in her favoured international athletics events.
The court found that Ms Semenya “had not been afforded sufficient institutional and procedural safeguards in Switzerland to allow her to have her complaints examined effectively”.