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 Centre presents extensive human rights education programmes with a pan-African focus, for which it has in the past been awarded the UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education and the African Union/African Commission Human Rights NGO Prize. While there is still a lot to be done for the realisation of human rights and democratisation in Africa, the Centre’s Master’s programmes play an important role towards human rights sensitisation and training on the continent. The event's theme mirrored that of the African Union for 2023, 'Acceleration of African Continental Free Trade Area Implementation'.

This year we welcome 86 new Masters students from 23 African countries: Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, eSwatini, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, and six new doctoral candidates: Clement Agyemang, Ivy Gikonyo, Henok Kremte, Jared Gekombe, Rotondwa Mashige and Shyreen Chirwa.

The event was attended by eminent personalities, from academics to human rights activists, government officials, the judiciary, Board Members of the Centre, staff and students of the University of Pretoria and members of the diplomatic corps.

For the fourth year in a row, the Vice Chancellor and Principal, Prof Tawana Kupe, officially welcomed the guests on behalf of the University and expressed pride in the Centre’s Master’s programmes and its alumni. In his opening remarks, he noted the importance of having a vision to put ‘Africa first’ on the map through academic excellence. The Deputy Dean of the Law Faculty, Prof Charles Maimela, encouraged the students to face their academic endeavours head on and reminded them of the importance of the work that lies ahead. Prof Edward Kwakwa, who has been teaching in the TILA programme since its inception in 2003, gave some insightful remarks about the TILA programme and the impactful human rights work that the TILA alumni are doing across the continent.

To put the spotlight on a few TILA alumni:

• Marumo Nkomo (South Africa) went on to serve as the Director- Legal: International Trade and Investment at the Department of Trade and Investment in South Africa, and is currently an Economic Counsellor on the South African Permanent Mission to the World Trade Organisation.
• Tobi Moody (Nigeria) served as Assistant Professor and National Scholar (International Economic Law) at Queen's University, Canada and is currently serving as the Director of the Nigeria Office of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
• Vivienne Katjiuongua (Namibia) went on to serve as Trade Advisor, Namibian Agricultural Trade Forum, and is currently serving as Chief Executive Officer at Business and Intellectual Property Authority (BIPA), which is an agency of the Ministry of Industrialization and Trade (MIT) in Namibia.

HRDA alumnus, Jared Gekombe, who is also a tutor in the HRDA programme, gave some words of encouragement to the new Masters’ students. He stressed the importance of time management and discipline in efforts to meet the rigour of the intensive Masters’ programmes.

Judge Kollapen’s keynote address

Judge Narandran ‘Jody’ Kollapen, a judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, gave the Keynote Address. Prior to joining the bench, Judge Kollapen served as the Head of the South African Human Rights Commission and previously practised as an attorney at Lawyers for Human Rights. In his keynote address, Judge Kollapen discussed the Limpopo text book case, in which he gave a structural order to the department of education to ensure the realisation of the right to education for learners in Limpopo. In his address, Judge Kollapen noted that South Africa is a participatory democracy where nodes of participation are decentralised at the national, provincial and local government spheres, and that within the local government, participation is facilitated through the municipal councils, and ward committees. He questioned how it could be that in such a participatory democracy, where national policy requires government to ensure that every child is given a text book, learners in Limpopo were deprived of this. He questioned why their right to education had to be given effect through a court of law, noting that there is something fundamentally wrong. He also stressed the importance of accountability of those in power. In relation to business and human rights, and in keeping with the Centre’s ‘20 years of TILA’ celebration, Judge Kollapen noted that in a world where corporations are becoming more and more powerful, we need to take a step back and consider – how the power of rights squares up with the rights of power.

In closing, Prof Frans Viljoen, the Director of the Centre for Human Rights acknowledged the support of the partners of the HRDA including those in the Global Campus Initiative (and Global Campus Africa), the Vice Chancellor and Principal, the Deputy Dean, board members, the diplomatic corps, and colleagues who are instrumental in the upholding of the high reputation of the Master’s programmes from year to year. He noted the role of the originators of the TILA programme, in particular, Professors Danny Bradlow and Loretta Feris, who were involved in coordinating the programme from the very start, Professor Riekie Wandrag from the University of the Western Cape (UWC), and the late Professor Christof Heyns. The  hosting of the TILA programme alternates between UP and UWC. Prof Viljoen thanked the students for choosing the programmes of the Centre for Human Rights and reminded them of the human rights gaps across the continent, and the importance of the students in tackling these challenges in the real world, upon completing their studies.  

We wish to extend our utmost thanks to the partners who support our programmes financially, including, but not limited to the EU through the Global Campus Initiative and the Right Livelihood Foundation, the Swedish Development Corporation (SIDA). We also acknowledge the support of Dr Charles Okehalam who has been supporting the TILA programme, through the Maria Okehalam Scholarship, since 2021. This year, the Maria Okehalam Scholarship was awarded to seven TILA students, of which five are female and two are male.

Academic programmes

The following five programmes are presented in 2023:

LLM/MPhil Human Rights & Democratisation in Africa (HRDA)

The class consists of students who come from all over the continent; it is a highly competitive master’s programme. It is one of the flagship programmes of the University of Pretoria. The HRDA programme was established to develop capacity among African legal and other experts in the field of human rights and democratisation, in order to strengthen national and regional structures that deal with human rights and democracy. It is presented in partnership with 12 African universities drawn from all the sub-regions of Africa.

LLM in International Trade and Investment Law in Africa (TILA)

This programme is the first of its kind to be offered in Africa. It establishes a higher education and training programme based in and focused on Africa with full exposure to the international world of  trade and investment. In 2023, the TILA programme, which alternates between the Centre at UP, and UWC, marks the 20th student cohort registered for the programme.

LLM/MPhil Sexual & Reproductive Rights in Africa (SRRA)

This is a two-year programme offered as a blended learning course comprising of online interaction and residential block-weeks in Pretoria. One of its aims is to equip the participants with knowledge and understanding of sexual and reproductive health and rights from domestic, regional and global international perspectives.

LLM/MPhil in Multi-Disciplinary Human Rights (MDHR)

This programme is designed for people who work full time and still want to study. Participants in the programme are exposed to a diversified approach to the study of human rights, benefiting from the experiences of lawyers and non-lawyers.

LLM/MPhil in Disability Rights in Africa (DRIA)

The programme was launched in 2018 and is the first master’s degree programme in Africa focusing specifically on the rights of persons with disabilities in Africa. The programme explores disability from a human rights perspective.