The students on the LLM/MPhil programme in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa are assigned to human rights clinics which contributes to the work of the Centre’s research units and give the students practical experience and advance the Centre’s mission towards the realisation of human rights in Africa.
2021 Litigation Clinic
The 2021 Litigation clinic was assigned the following mandates:
- Draft an Amicus Curiae brief for the case of Pamela Adie v Corporate Affairs Commission
- Shadow Report for Benin
- The students also jointly with the Implementation Clinic worked on a legal opinion that was prepared by the Unit at the request of the African Commission.
2021 Implementation Clinic
The 2021 Implementation clinic was assigned the following mandates:
- Contribute to the development of the COVID-19 database by analysing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the response of an African state of their choice on human rights and democratic governance.
- Prepare country-level documentation for any African country of their choice as part of a comprehensive collection of primary documentation on the influence of the UN human rights treaty system at the national level. This mandate makes the clinic students one of the assigned country correspondents for the 193 countries covered under the impact database 2020+.
- The students in collaboration with the Litigation Clinic also worked on a legal opinion that was prepared by the Unit at the request of the African Commission and the shadow report to Benin’s state report before the African Commission.
2020 Implementation and litigation Clinic
The 2020 Litigation and Implementation Clinic was assigned the following mandates:
- Draft communication to the African Commission on discriminatory laws against women's ability to pass on citizenship to their children.
- Draft communication to the African Commission on 'defamation of the president' and similar defamation laws that have custodial sentences.
- Research on the impact of the United Nations Human Rights treaties in South Africa.
- Research on the impact of the United Nations Human Rights treaties in some of the countries covered in an online database to be established on the impact of the United Nations human rights treaties.
2019 Litigation and Implementation Clinic
The 2019 Litigation and Implementation Clinic was assigned the following mandates:
- Provide research assistance on the impact of international human rights treaties at the domestic level.
- Draft an application to the African Court on behalf of persons with albinism in Malawi.
- Draft an application to the African Commission on freedom of expression and the right to have access to a lawyer during criminal trials in Zambia.
- Develop a strategy on, and contribute to the #BringBackTheSADCTribunal campaign.
2018 Litigation and Implementation Clinic
The 2018 Litigation and Implementation Clinic was assigned the following mandates:
- Develop strategy to implement decisions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights against Zimbabwe Concept note, engaging with civil society;
- Contribute a framework for updating the book of Christof Heyns and Frans Viljoen on the impact of international treaty monitoring bodies in selected states;
- Write a blog post for AfricLaw on the implementation of the Talibe case (Senegal) decided by the African Committee on the Rights and Welfare of the Child;
- Advocacy around SADC Tribunal;
- Finalise witchcraft case (Nigeria) submission to African Committee on the Rights and Welfare of the Child;
- Finalise Zimbabwe HIV case submission to African Commission;
- Amicus on Djibouti case (review African Commission)
2017 Litigation and Implementation Clinic
The 2017 Litigation and Implementation Clinic was assigned the following mandates:
- Follow-up in the case of Shumba v Zimbabwe (African Commission); CHR v Senegal (Talibe case, African Children's Rights Committee) (Analyse the decisions; take stock of and assess existing attempts at ensuring domestic implementation; and devising and implementing a strategy to enhance implementation of the remedial order in the Shumba and Talibe cases, with the 60th session of the African Commission/ next session of Committee on the Rights of the Child in mind);
- Desk review of the implementation of the decisions of all UN treaty bodies, the African Commission and African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights in respect of Zambia and Burkina Faso; development of strategy, including questionnaires for interviews to be conducted on-site, to supplement information obtained by way of desk review;
- Updating of the publication on the impact of the African Charter and the Maputo Protocol in selected African states. However, due to technical issues identified, it was established the mandate was not achievable within the given time period as it was beyond the Clinic’s reach. The initial mandate was duly replaced. The new mandate required the Clinic to update, review and restructure the web portal for ligation page within the African Human Rights Case Law Database of the Centre’s website.
2016 Litigation and Implementation Clinic
The 2016 Litigation and Implementation Clinic was assigned the following mandates:
- Update draft communication on children accused of witchcraft
- Update draft application on people living with albinism (PWA) in Tanzania
- Prepare case summaries for the African Human Rights Law Reports
- Prepare cases summaries for the Oxford Reports on International Law in Domestic Courts (ILDC)
2015 Litigation and Implementation Clinic
The 2015 Litigation and Implementation Clinic was assigned the following mandates:
- Prepare a legal brief on the feasibility of a lawsuit against the Southern African Development Community (SADC) before the Botswana High Court.
- Prepare amicus brief for filing at the East Africa Court of Justice (EACJ) on Uganda’s anti-homosexuality act.
- Update draft communication on children accused of witchcraft
- Update draft application on people living with albinism (PWA) in Tanzania
- Develop an advisory opinion on the status of companies as rights holders in the African Human Rights System
