On 2 July 2024, the Centre for Human Rights at the Faculty Law, University of Pretoria (Centre), together with the School of Law at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, jointly hosted the 2024 Helen Kanzira Human Rights Memorial Lecture at the Eshetu Chole Hall at Sidist Kilo, Addis Ababa University (AAU). The Helen Kanzira Memorial Lecture focuses on contemporary issues relating to women’s sexual and reproductive rights in Africa. The theme of this year’s memorial lecture is ‘The role of digital technologies in addressing maternal mortality in Africa'. Helen Kanzira was a graduate of the inaugural year (2000) of the Master’s in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa programme (HRDA), presented by the Centre at UP in collaboration with twelve law faculties across the continent, including AAU.
Dr Solomon Abay, Professor of Law and Head of the School of Law, AAU facilitated the event. The lecture started with welcoming remarks from AAU, represented by Professor Martha Belete, who is the Assistant Dean at the School of Law at AAU, and is an Executive Member of the AAU Senate. Prof Belete traced the story behind the memorial lecture and reiterated its aims, among which is to commemorate Helen Kanzira and honour her bravery, selflessness and vibrance, and to facilitate advocacy and capacity building on matters pertaining to maternal health in Africa.
This was followed by welcoming remarks by Prof Frans Viljoen, Director of the Master’s HRDA at the Centre. Prof Viljoen celebrated the longstanding partnership between the University of Pretoria and Addis Ababa University, noting particularly, the partnership that exists between Addis Ababa University and the University of Pretoria within the framework of the Global Campus of Human Rights, within which the Helen Kanzira Memorial Human Rights Lecture of 2024 has been organised. He noted that the HRDA programme in 2024 marks 25 years of its existence, and that the Memorial Lecture is an important moment on this trajectory of remembrance.
The keynote speaker, Dr Bilguissou Balde, Regional Director of IPAS, discussed the utility of digital technologies towards the realisation of maternal health in Africa. Dr Balde stressed the importance and urgency of a systemic, multisectoral approach to mitigate the risk of maternal death. Going through the statistics, she noted that, sadly, the five countries with the highest maternal death rates are in Africa – South Sudan, Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic, and Guinea Bissau, in descending order. Giving illustrative examples, she proposed the use of various types of digital devices to promote the realisation of the right to maternal health in Africa, and to mitigate against risks. These digital tools and devices include the use of electronic health records by health service providers; telehealth; wearable devices; mobile health apps; personalized medicine; telemedicine; electronic medical records.
Dr Balde’s address was followed by an open discussion, moderated by Dr Michelle Maziwisa, HRDA Programme Manager, at the Centre. Participants asked critical questions about how to reconcile the theory to women’s lived realities. In reply, Dr Balde reiterated the importance of a multisectoral, all of government approach, with citizens actively playing their part, and working closely with civil society organisations such as IPAS.
With just over forty participants, the event was able to reach a wide range of important stakeholders cutting across multiple disciplines among which law, medicine, and information and communication technologies. Such a cross-cutting topic required the organisers to reach out to various sectors, and thus the participants included practitioners and academics from various fields including law, business and medicine. It also created a platform for intergenerational dialogue particularly among younger scholars and established practitioners and human rights experts in Addis Ababa.
Noting the importance of maternal health across the region and taking into account the questions posed during this lecture, the HRDA Council, which brings together all partner universities of the HRDA, has subsequently adopted a decision to strengthen the work of Global Campus Africa regional hub on maternal health through collaborative research and advocacy.
Networking with alumni of Centre for Human Rights Academic Programmes: HRDA & TILA
Also, important to note is the opportunity this event presented for strengthening the HRDA and Masters Programme in Trade and Investment in Africa (TILA) alumni network. In attendance from the TILA was Prof Martha Hailu Betel (class of 2005, TILA); and among the HRDA alumni were: Dr Fasil Mulatu Gesese (class of 2008) who is currently the Director of the Centre for Human Rights, at Addis Ababa University (AAU); Dr Mensebet Assefa Tadeg (class of 2008) now professor of law at AAU; Henok Teshome Shibru (class of 2022) a researcher at Civil Society Resource Centre, Addis Ababa; Anchinesh Shiferaw Mulu (class of 2009), lecturer at AAU; Jonathan Obwogi (class of 2018), legal officer at the African Union; and Henok Ashagrey Kremte (class of 2018), currently a doctoral researcher and tutor at the Centre in Pretoria.
The organisers wish to acknowledge the support of the European Union through the Global Campus, without which this event could not have been possible. The Centre is the regional headquarters of the Global Campus Africa region. The Centre offers the HRDA programme in partnership with 12 African universities, including Addis Ababa University. The Global Campus is a network of human rights institutions working on research and training of human rights across eight regions.
For more information, please contact
Tel: +27 (0) 12 420 6703
michelle.maziwisa@up.ac.za
