Ratified conventions by South Africa
- 1952 - 2nd Geneva Convention For the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea
- 1952 - 3rd Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War
- 1952 - 4th Geneva Convention relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war
- 1952 - 1st Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field
- 1985 - Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa
- 1995 - Convention on the Prohibition of the development, production, stockpilling and use of chemical weapons
- 1995 - Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women
- 1995 - Convention on the Rights of the Child
- 1996 - African Charter on Human and People's Rights
- 1996 - Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
- 1996 - Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees
- 1998 - International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
- 1998 - Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpilling, production and transfer and antipersonnel mines
- 1998 - International Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
- 1998 - Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
- 1998 - Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
- 2000 - Statute of the International Criminal Court
- 2002 - Protocol on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and People's Rights
- 2002 - Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights aiming at the abolition of the death penalty
- 2002 - Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
- 2003 - Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography
- 2004 - Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women in Africa
- 2009 - Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict
- 2009 - Additional Protocol Relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts
- 2009 - Additional Protocol Relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts
- 2015 - International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
- 2015 - Convention on Cluster Munitions