The Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria (UP), takes note of the 2018 raking of law faculties or schools by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (THEWUR), in which the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Law is placed at position 92.
According to the THEWUR, using a fixed set of criteria, UP’s Faculty of Law is the top law faculty not only in South Africa, but in Africa. As one of six departments within the Faculty of Law, the Centre for Human Rights acknowledges and thanks our staff, current students, our many graduates, partners, donors and other supporters, for their contributions in making the Centre – and the Faculty – a centre of excellence in Africa.
The Centre’s two “flagship” programmes are the Master’s in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa (HRDA), running since 2000 and the African Human Rights Moot Court Competition, which recently took place for the 26th time. The HRDA programme is presented in collaboration with thirteen partner law faculties across Africa. Every year, around 30 students from all over Africa are selected to attend this programme. Through their subsequent activities, more than 500 alumni have contributed significantly to greater awareness and knowledge of the human rights in Africa. The Moot Court Competition is an annual event bringing together the majority of law schools in Africa.
The Centre hosts three other Master’s programmes: Master’s in Multidisciplinary Human Rights, Master’s in International Trade and Investment Law in Africa and the Master’s in Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Africa, which is presented partly online). It also presents a series of advanced human rights short courses, organises the Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition, publishes the leading publications in the field of human rights law in Africa (including the African Human Rights Law Journal, African Human Rights Law Reports), and oversees an academic press that publishes leading texts on public law in Africa (Pretoria University Law Press). The Centre also has a number of research and advocacy units.
The CHR co-exists together with two satellite units, the International Development Law Unit (IDLU), headed by Professor Danny Bradlow, and the Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa (ICLA), headed by Professor Christof Heyns. Professor Bradlow also holds a Chair of the South African National Research Foundation, dealing with International Economic Relations; and Professor Heyns is a member of the UN Human Rights Committee.