The Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, is currently hosting its third Advanced Human Rights Short Course on Children’s Rights in Africa. It started on Monday 31 July 2017 and runs to Friday 4 August 2017. The short course brings together 35 participants from 10 countries across Africa, with backgrounds that include national human rights institutions, academia, civil society, legal practitioners, prosecutors, teachers, medical professionals and government.

The course started with an opening address by Prof Frans Viljoen, Director of the Centre for Human Rights, followed by a presentation by Prof Magnus Killander, Head of Research at the Centre for Human Rights, on a detailed overview of the African human rights system. Prof Benyam Mezmur, Chairperson of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and an alumnus of the Centre engaged participants on realising children’s rights through the African Union treaty mechanisms. In his lecture, Prof Benyam highlighted the underlying conceptual approaches to children rights instruments; he contextualised the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. In addition, the lecture encompassed the substantive rights contained in the African Children’s Charter.