Tauriq Jenkins

Tauriq Jenkins is a human rights defenders and active member of the South African civil society. Over the past 15 years, Tauriq Jenkins has been involved with a variety of entities; from chairing on the A|XARRA Restorative Justice Forum, to serving as the convener of the C19 People’s Coalition, a civil society umbrella body of over 400 organisations. He currently convenes the Anti-Repression Working Group that deals with state violence, police and military human rights violations, and municipal law enforcement violations. Tauriq is an accredited South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) Section 11, Monitor and the High Commissioner of the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Traditional Indigenous Council. He is the founder of the Independent Theatre Movement of South Africa. He is also involved with various civics and environmental bodies such as the Observatory Civic Association, the Two Rivers Urban Park Association and Oude Molen Eco Village.

His work in defence of human rights has been acknowledged by the International Davis Peace Prize for groundbreaking theatre and rehabilitation work in South African prison. He was also received the Mayoral Award for Community Bravery. Tauriq’s work and the recognition he received for it are only one side of the story. Over the course of his years defending the rights of indigenous peoples among others, Tauriq has been the victim of targeted threats on his life, legal threats, sabotage, smear campaigns, and intimidation efforts. Nonetheless he continues his work on matters related Heritage and Environment Protection, Indigenous (San and Khoi) Rights, Anti-Repression, Arts Activism.