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Ms Jane Connors United Nations' first Victims' Rights Advocate, was on a visit to South Africa to explore ways of dealing with alleged sexual abuse by South African soldiers while part of a Umiyed Nation's peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO)

The Centre for Human Rights (the Centre) in partnership with Women in Law in Southern Africa (WLSA), Lesotho hosted a one-day stakeholders’ meeting on compliance with the concluding observations and recommendations under the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol). The meeting took place in Maseru, Lesotho on 13 April 2023.

The Centre for Human Rights, Children’s Rights Unit, in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, and the Global Campus for Human Rights, successfully conducted a two-day workshop in Lilongwe, Malawi. The workshop focused on promoting child participation in development frameworks in Africa and strengthening the African base of the Global Child Leading Team.

The Centre for Human Rights, Children’s Rights Unit, in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, and the Global Campus for Human Rights, successfully conducted the first day of a two-day workshop on promoting child participation in development frameworks in Africa and strengthening the African base of the Global Child Leading Team, held in Lilongwe, Malawi.  

On 3 April 2023, the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, held an advocacy meeting with the Minister of Justice of Namibia, Hon Yvonne Dausab, and other senior officials drawn from the Ministry of Justice, Home Affairs, and Disaster Management Directorate of the Office of the Prime Minister of the Government of Namibia. The meeting was aimed at stimulating a national conversation about the ratification by Namibia of three Protocols to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter), and the African Union (AU) Convention on the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons (‘Kampala’ Convention).

The Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria (the Centre) expresses concern over claims of retaliatory disciplinary proceedings against a senior judicial officer in Uganda, Justice Esther Kisaakye of the Supreme Court. The Centre understands that the country’s Judicial Service Commission commenced inquiry proceedings into the conduct of Justice Kisaakye after her dissenting decision in the 2021 Presidential election petition filed by opposition leader, Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu (Bobiwine), against President Yoweri Museveni. In that Petition, the Supreme Court of Uganda denied a later application by Sentamu to be allowed more time to change the main application, stating it was late. Justice Kisaakye, however, dissented on the basis that the applicant's illegal house arrest hindered timely submission.

Dans le cadre du Concours africain de procès simulé des droits de l'homme Christof Heyns, qui se déroulera du 3 au 9 septembre 2023, à la Faculté de droit de l'Université des sciences et technologies Kwame Nkrumah, Kumasi, Ghana, une conférence internationale d'une journée sur les droits de l'homme se tiendra également le 4 septembre 2023 sous le thème « L'Afrique que nous voulons : Combattre la discrimination, le changement climatique et la corruption ».

The Centre for Human Rights at the end of March 2023, bid farewell to two outstanding alumni of the Master’s programme in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa (HRDA), who also served the Centre as invaluable staff members. The Centre  has been fortunate to be a teacher and a witness of the personal developments of Dr Ayodele Sogunro, who we all know as Ayo, and Johannes Buabeng-Baidoo. The following comes to mind:

‘If you are brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello’ – Paulo Coelho

On 31 March 2023, the Expression, Information and Digital Rights Unit, Centre for Human Rights welcomed the team from Lawyers Hub Kenya. The delegation was led by the CEO and founder Linda Bonyo.

The University of Dayton Human Rights Center, in collaboration with the Centre for Human Rights of the Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, and the Free State Centre for Human Rights of the Faculty of Law, University of the Free State, will host a joint convening, bringing together the 2023 Social Practice of Human Rights Conference and the 6th International Conference on the Right to Development, which will be held for the first time outside of the African continent.

As part of the Christof Heyns African Human Rights Moot Court Competition, which takes place from 3 - 9 September 2023, at the Faculty of Law, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana, a one-day International Human Rights Conference will also be held on 4 September 2023 under the theme “The Africa We Want: Sexual and Gender minority rghts in Africa, Climate Change and Corruption”. 

Dr Michelle R. Maziwisa is the new Programme Manager for the Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa (HRDA) Masters Programme at the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria. Maziwisa previously served as a postdoctoral researcher at the Dullah Omar Institute, at the University of Western Cape, Cape Town. She is a recipient of the prestigious Ronald Watts Young Scholar Award for her essay on External Economic Arrangements and South African Cities as Agents of Local Development. Her work on women’s rights is broad and includes sexual and reproductive rights, representation and participation in democratic processes, and feminist trade justice.

The Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria (Centre), is proud to commemorate Trans Day of Visibility, which falls every year and is celebrated internationally on 31 March.  This day is an opportunity to recognise and celebrate the contributions of trans gender and gender diverse individuals in our society, and to raise awareness of the challenges and discrimination that they face. Trans Day of Visibility Founder Rachel Crandall-Crocker, a Michigan-based and licensed psychotherapist and transgender advocate, chose the month of March to not to ‘step on the toes’ of other Trans Day of Remembrance on 20 November or American Pride Month in June.

The Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, invites you to webinar series on decisions of African human rights bodies with the goal of increasing awareness and understanding among relevant stakeholders about the jurisprudence of African human rights bodies. The webinar series serves as a platform for analysing the normative aspects of recent human rights decisions made by AHRBs, diagnosing and identifying the challenges to the implementation of these decisions, and devising strategies for their effective implementation.

The Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria in partnership with Pretoria University Law Press (PULP) invites you to the book launch of Technological innovation (4IR) in law teaching and learning: Enhancement or drawback during Covid-19? edited by Prof Charles Maimela (2022).

The Pretoria Student Law Review (PSLR) is now accepting original research articles, case notes as well as book reviews for the 2023 (vol 17) publication for the (i) Annual Edition, on any topic in law and its related disciplines, and for the special section on Gender and the Law  Contributions should be in line with the PSLR Style and Submission Guidelines.

The Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of law, University of Pretoria (CHR) and the Centre for Sexualities, AIDS, and Gender, University of Pretoria (CSA&G) condemn the passing of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill by the Parliament of Uganda on 21 March 2023.  

The Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, cordially invites you to apply for its Capacity Building Workshop on Strategic Litigation and Advocacy for human rights defenders working on the promotion and protection of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and other non-binary and gender-nonconforming persons in Africa.

On 23 March 2023, the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria (the Centre) in partnership with the University of Antwerp, Belgium hosted a Roundtable dialogue on litigating the right to development in domestic courts in Africa. The dialogue was held alongside the visit of the King and Queen of Belgium to South Africa. The dialogue was conducted in a hybrid format with both physical and virtual participants including, delegates from the Government of Belgium and Flanders, Academic partners from the Free State Centre for Human Rights, University of Free State, University of Antwerp, University of Ghent, Université Saint-Louis-Bruxelles, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium, Civil Society actors and human rights practitioners and students from the Centre for Human Rights among others. 

On 4 March 2023, the Centre for Human Rights SOGIESC Unit team was in Cape Town to commemorate the final event on the World Pride calendar. The Pride Festival, hosted by Cape Town Pride and Outreach Africa, was supported by various organisations involved in the realisation of rights and freedoms of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, questioning, intersex, non-binary, asexual, polysexual, genderqueer and gender variant people (LGBTIQ+) community throughout the African region.

The Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) Unit, in collaboration with Gender Equality and Anti-Discrimination Office (GEADO) at the Unit for Institutional Change and Social Justice, University of Free State recently hosted a one day training workshop on 18 March 2023 aimed at equipping members and allies of the LGBTI+ community in South Africa with the knowledge and capacity to access the Equality Court through lodging civil claims. The training is part of a larger project to host trainings on accessing Equality Courts throughout South Africa in order to empower LGBTI+ communities to claim their rights.

The Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, is proud to announce the open-access publication of volume six (2022) of the African Human Rights Yearbook and volume four of the African Court Law Report (covering case decided in 2020) both published under the Pretoria University Law Press (PULP).

On 22 March 2023, the Centre for Human Rights Democracy and Civic Engagement Unit convened a Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) dialogue in partnership with the European Union that interrogated the state of human rights in South.  The event aimed to create a space for an exchange of ideas among members of civil society, to identify the main challenges and possible priority actions for civil society - particularly in respect of migration, socio-economic, LGBTQ+ and persons with disabilities rights.

Badudwan’ is a practice in Ghana where a man is given a cow in recognition of him have borne 10 children. In the process the woman who has been put under pressure to carry all 10 (or more) pregnancies is ignored. Organisations might be allowed into school to discuss sexuality education for adolescents but personal convictions of staff block the distribution of contraceptive products to the youth. These are only some of the issues that have come up in the discussions on sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) in Ghana during a training organised by the Women’s Rights Unit, Centre for Human Rights in collaboration with WiLDAF Ghana from 16-17 March 2023. The meeting is part of the project funded by the Swedish International Development Corporation (SIDA). The project is aimed at strengthening SRHR in Africa.

The Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria (Centre), commends the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Commission) on taking a meaningful step forward in the pursuit of equality and justice for intersex persons in Africa by  for the first time in its history adopting a legal text on the rights of intersex persons in Africa. This text takes the form of a resolution titled ‘Resolution 552 on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Intersex Persons in Africa’.  In it, the Commission calls on African states to protect the rights of intersex children by ending non-consensual genital normalising practices and to promote intersex person’s rights through education and sensitisation.

This message is announcing the celebration of an International Conference organized by the Pedro Arrupe Institute of Human Rights of the University of Deusto in the framework of the Association of Human Rights Institutes (AHRI) between 7 and 9 September 2023 at the University of Deusto in Bilbao. 

Download Call for Papers

The Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, welcomes the recent court order by the Equality Court holding singer Steve Hofmeyr accountable for discriminatory and queerphobic comments made on his Facebook account in April 2022.

The Gqeberha High Court, sitting as the Equality Court, ordered Hofmeyr to release an unconditional apology on his social media platforms. Hofmeyr did so soon after the case was concluded, observing as follows:  ‘I regret the hurt and offence caused as a result of the comments and apologise unconditionally to members of the LGBTQ+ community as well as any other member of public that was offended by my comments.’

The Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, commends the National Assembly of South Africa for passing the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill (Bill) on 15 March 2023. This legislation marks a significant step towards the protection of all South Africans against hate crimes and hate speech, particularly those based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or any other form of discrimination.

The Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, welcomes the recent court order by the Equality Court holding singer Steve Hofmeyr accountable for discriminatory and queerphobic comments made on his Facebook account in April 2022.

21 March 2023

The theme of 2023 Human Rights Day is ‘Leave no one behind’. This phrase is a pillar of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It highlights that discrimination has a legal dimension, but emphasises that exclusion and maginalisation is also material. It is in the first place people who live in conditions of poverty who are ‘left behind’ in South Africa. Unemployment is sky high, especially among the youth. Almost 40 percent of South Africans experience some form of food insecurity.

On Friday 10 March 2023, the Centre for Human Rights (Centre) hosted its annual official Academic Opening Ceremony to welcome and introduce the new Master’s students from five of the academic programmes offered by the Centre, as well as newly registered doctoral candidates. This is an annual event which celebrates future African leaders in the area of human rights, democracy and related fields. This year, the Centre celebrated 20 years of one of these Master’s programmes, the Trade an Investment Law in Africa (TILA) programme.

The Advanced Human Rights Courses (AHRC), in collaboration with the Disability Rights Unit of the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria (UP), recently hosted the annual short course on Disability Rights in an African Context, from 6 – 10 March 2023. The short course was held in a hybrid format; on zoom and at the SRC chambers based at the University of Pretoria.

 

On 14 - 15 March 2023 in Accra, Ghana the Women’s Rights Unit met with Ghanaian government representatives and civil society organisations to facilitate a workshop on strengthening compliance with Ghana’s state reporting obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter) and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol).

The Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria in partnership with the University of Antwerp with support of the Flemish government cordially invite you to Roundtable Dialogue on Litigation of the Right to Development in Domestic Courts in Africa

The Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition together with the Christof Heyns African Human Rights Moot Court Competition invite mooters from across the world to join in an a workshop for memorial writing skills. The panel of memorial markers will share their excerpt advise and tips on acing the memorial round of any moot competition.

Centre for Human Rights, doctoral candidate Brian Kibirango is the latest recipient of the Christof Heyns memorial scholarship. The Christof Heyns Human Rights Scholarship was instituted in memory of renowned human rights scholar, Christof Heyns, who was a professor of human rights law at the University of Pretoria until his untimely death in March 2021.

The Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria welcomed the third cohort of master’s students on the LLM/MPhil Disability Rights in Africa (DRIA) programme during an orientation week (Week Zero) which was held from 3 to 4 March 2023.

To celebrate International Women's Day (IWD) this year, the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, seeks to accredit the potential for women to benefit socially and economically from the digital revolution. Yet, there is also a chance that it will reinforce current patterns of gender inequity. Despite numerous substantial initiatives, there is still a sizable gender gap in the digital world, which prevents high-, low-, and middle-income countries from equally reaping the rewards of digital transformation.

The Advanced Human Rights Courses (AHRC) and the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) Unit at the Centre for Human Rights (the ‘Centre’), University of Pretoria (UP) recently hosted the 2023 edition of the annual short course on Sexual Minority Rights in Africa. The course was presented through both virtual and physical sessions from 20 to 24 February 2023 and was attended by 70 participants with 15 presenters from both across and outside Africa. Participants included LLM/MPhil students in both the Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa (HRDA) and the Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Africa (SRRA) Masters programmes in the Faculty of Law, UP. Other participants included researchers, academics, judicial officers, government workers, officials of selected National Human Rights Institutions, and members of civil society.

The Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria commends the Supreme Court of Kenya on its decision upholding the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission’s right to register as a non-governmental organisation with the words ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian’ in its title.

In pursuit of the ideals of excellence and diversity, the University of Pretoria wishes to invite applications for the Senior Lecture vacancy. The University of Pretoria's commitment to quality makes us one of the top research Universities in the country and gives us a competitive advantage in international science and technology development.

On 27 February 2023, the Disability Rights Unit at the Centre for Human Rights hosted a dialogue on the newly adopted Guidelines_on_Deinstitutionalization.pdf, including in Emergencies (‘the Guidelines’). The adoption of the Guidelines was announced by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 9 September 2022. The primary objective of the Guidelines is to provide guidance  to States Parties on how to ensure that persons with disabilities realise the right to live independently and to be included in the community as stipulated in article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, with a  focus on the deinstitutionalisation process. The dialogue sought to introduce stakeholders to the substantive content of the Guidelines and  to examine their use  in African advocacy initiatives to promote the right to live independently and be included in the community.

The Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria (Centre) condemns the racist remarks made by the President of Tunisia and the arbitrary arrest, detention and forced eviction of African migrants in Tunisia.

In pursuit of the ideals of excellence and diversity, the University of Pretoria wishes to invite applications for the Associate Professor/Professor vacancy. The University of Pretoria's commitment to quality makes us one of the top research Universities in the country and gives us a competitive advantage in international science and technology development.

The Pretoria Student Law Review (PSLR) is now accepting original research articles, and the traditional reviews published in the past, for the 2023 (Volume 17) edition on any topic in law and its related disciplines.

The African Moot and the Migration Unit of the Centre for Human Rights held a movie screening titled ‘African Moot’ on 15 February 2023 for CSOs in South Africa dealing with refugees and migrants.   

INVITATION FOR CONTRIBUTIONS 

We invite abstracts for articles and case discussions proposing to make ground-breaking academic-style contributions to the human rights discourse in Africa. Although the contributions are expected to take a continental (African) approach to the issues they cover, country-specific or sub-regional level case studies that relate to the African regional human rights system will also be considered. In so far as methodology is concerned, contributions adopting multidisciplinary and empirical approaches are highly encouraged. 

On February 6, 2023, Amhara Association of America (AAA) and Centre for Human Rights, Pretoria University (CHR) submitted a complaint to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights against the Ethiopian Government. The complaint is made on behalf of ethnic Amhara residents in West Wollega, East Wollega, Horo Guduru Wollega, Qelem Wollega and West Shewa Zones of the Oromia Region who faced mass atrocities at the hand of state and non-state armed forces and militias. The complaint argues that the Ethiopian state bears responsibility for human rights violations committed by its agents, including the Oromia Special Forces (OSF), such as extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, property destruction, communication blackouts, violent dispersal of peaceful protests, and displacement. It is also submitted that the lack of adequate efforts on the part of the state to halt the atrocities and human rights violations committed by the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) or punish those responsible for violating the obligation of states to ensure the rights and freedoms of all individuals within its jurisdictions is not respected, thereby depriving the Amhara residents of several substantive rights in the African Charter.

The Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, calls for applications for full-time doctoral scholarships in the field of sexual and/ or reproductive rights in the African region. 

The Centre for Human Rights Disability Rights Unit invites you to a dialogue on the newly adopted guidelines on deinstitutionalisation.

The dialogue seeks to:

  1. Introduce stakeholders to the substantive content of the guidelines 
  2. Interrogate the practical application of the guidelines in African countries
  3. Examine the use of the guidelines in advocacy initiatives to promote the right to live independently and be included in the community

Download invitation

Launch Zoom meeting

The Litigation and Implementation Unit of the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, is recruiting for a part-time position of Student Project Associate under an eight month contract beginning on 1 April 2023 and ending on 30 November 2023, renewable based on satisfactory performance and continued funding. 

On 1 and 2 February 2023, the Office of the President of the Republic of South Africa (the Presidency) in partnership with the Women’s Rights Unit, Centre for Human Rights held a workshop to review commissioned reports from 25 African countries on discriminatory laws related to violence against women on the African continent (VAW). 

On 1 February 2023, the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria’s (UP) entered into an agreement with the Swedish Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) for the implementation of a project aimed at strengthening the protection of sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) in Africa. The duration of the agreement is three years, commencing in February 2023 and runs until January 2026.

The Centre for Human Rights cordially invites you to Thulani Maseko`s memorial service under the theme: "Defending Civic Space and Protecting Human Rights Defenders in Southern Africa". 

Details

Venue: Law Auditorium, Room 1-54 of the Law Building. University of Pretoria
Date: 3 February 2023 14:30 – 16:45 (SAST)
RSVP: inmemoryofthulani@gmail.com before 3 February 2023

Join online Zoom

Thulani Rudolf Maseko (1 March 1970 - 21 January 2023) 

It is with great shock and profound sadness that we at the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, learnt about the assassination of Thulani Maseko on 21 January 2023. He was shot dead in front of his family in his home south of Mbabane, Eswatini, in what can only be described as a targeted killing.

Our deepest sympathy goes to his wife and family in this difficult and traumatising time.

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