Centre for Human Rights – University Of Pretoria
From TrustAfrica wiki - African Regional Organizations
Centre for Human Rights
Faculty of Law
University of Pretoria
PRETORIA 0002 South Africa
Tel: +27 12 420-3810
Fax: +27 12 362-5125
Email: carole.viljoen@up.ac.za
Website: http://www.chr.up.ac.za
Norman Taku, Acting Director, norman.taku@up.ac.za, Tel: +27 12 420-4944
Description
The Centre for Human Rights was established at the Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, in 1986, aimed against the apartheid system of the time. Members of the Centre participated in meetings with the liberation movements outside the borders of South Africa, organized conferences and participated in efforts to promote human rights in South Africa. When the transition came, they served as technical advisors to both the interim and final constitution writing process.
As its focus broadened over the years, the Centre has positioned itself in an unmatched network of practicing and academic lawyers, international and national civil servants and human rights practitioners across the entire continent, with a specific focus on human rights law in Africa, and international development law in general.
The Centre envisions itself as a world-class academic institution focusing on human rights law in Africa. Its mission is to work towards the realization of human rights, particularly in South Africa and Africa. It achieves this mission a theoretical and practical level, through research, education, training, lobbying and community development work. The Centre strives for ubuntu (humanity) and excellence in all its undertakings.
The activities of the Centre include two continental Master’s programs, one in human rights and the other in international trade and investment in Africa; short courses on issues related to good governance for civil servants and others from all countries of Africa; an annual Human Rights Moot Court Competition, established in 1992, which is attended by the vast majority of law faculties on the continent; publishing 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 the reference guide Human Rights Law in Africa, with correspondents in most African countries; an academic press that publishes leading texts on public law in Africa (PULP); and also some domestic publications, such as the Constitutional Law of South Africa, the textbook most often quoted in respect of the South African Constitution.
Track Record
The Centre celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2006, the year in which it was awarded the UNESCO 2006 Prize for Human Rights Education. It is among the most active human rights institutions on the African continent, and has established a wide network in Africa with other academic institutions, NGOs, governments and international organizations including the African Union and the United Nations. Centre members have won prestigious international and national awards for academic excellence and members of the Centre have served as consultants on human rights issues to a range of institutions, including the UN, the OAU/AU, and the South African Human Rights Commission.
A major achievement for Centre is its flagship academic program, the Master's degree (LLM) in Human Rights and Democratization in Africa. Since it started in 2000, 197 students from 30 countries have graduated from the program, which is delivered by the Centre in partnership with seven universities from all the sub-regions of Africa. Thirty of the top achievers at the 120 law faculties in Africa are selected each year to participate in this intensive one-year course, which is run on a full-time basis. A central component of the program has been to establish capacity at the partner institutions, where human rights lecturers are sponsored and the human rights holdings of the libraries have been significantly enhanced. The program was initiated under the auspices of the Association of African Universities (AAU, see separate profile) and is highly rated.
Now in its 16th year, the African Human Rights Moot Court Competition has become the largest annual gathering on the continent of students and lecturers of law, and one of the premier events on the African human rights calendar. CHR organizes the program each year in collaboration with the faculty of law of the host country. During this week-long competition, the students argue the merits of a hypothetical human rights case as if they were before the African Court of Human Rights; attend a one-day course on international human rights law; and go on a one-day excursion to visit a place of national interest in the host country. During the last 16 years the Moot has been held in 12 African countries, involving a total of 708 teams from 111 universities, representing 43 African countries. A significant impact of the Moot takes place at the beginning of each year when faculties start preparing for the Competition, and have their own knock-out rounds. Through this process, the Moot has reached and sensitized a whole generation of African human rights lawyers.
Through the Good Governance Program, CHR presents 10 advanced short courses in the field of human rights, the rule of law, and good governance as a whole. Between 30 and 50 participants from the ranks of senior and middle level government officials, academics and practitioners from various countries in Africa are selected to participate in each course. Over 1,500 participants have attended the program since its inception. Courses are one or two weeks in duration, during which time some of the most outstanding lecturers in their respective fields from the region and around the world present lectures.
Other Master’s Degree Programs include the LLM in Human Rights and Constitutional Practice, which has been presented by the Centre in collaboration with the Faculty of Law since 1995; and the LLM in International Trade and Investment in Africa, established in 2002, which links issues such as globalization and trade with human rights concerns, and is presented in partnership with the University of the Western Cape (UWC), the University of Amsterdam in The Netherlands, and the Washington College of Law, American University in Washington, D.C. 83 Students have graduated since the program began.
Publications: CHR also publishes widely in the field of human rights. The Human Rights Law in Africa Series is the leading reference work on human rights law in Africa. The African Human Rights Law Journal is published twice a year, in March and October. The African Human Rights Law Reports cover domestic human rights court decisions from different African countries, those of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and decisions of UN treaty bodies. The Compendium of Key Human Rights Documents of the African Union is distributed in large numbers on the continent in English and French. It has just been published in Arabic and is currently being translated into Portuguese.
Guided by CHR, the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria is setting up the most comprehensive collection in the world of African primary legal material in the Oliver R. Tambo Law Library, the “Law of Africa Collection”. The project entails concentrating in one library the primary sources of law of all 53 African countries, the sub-regional organizations of the continent and the African Union. The collection will also be made available on a website and a guide to the sources of law in Africa will be published. The Pretoria University Law Press (PULP) is a publisher based in Africa, launched and managed by the Centre for Human Rights and the Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria. PULP endeavors to publish and increase access to innovative, high quality and peer-reviewed texts with a focus on human rights and other aspects of public, international law, especially in Africa. Eleven books have been published to date.
Apart from the above, the Centre has also been engaged in numerous short-term ad hoc projects, such as seminars on The Right to Food, Traditional Leaders in the SADC region, and Environmental Law. Research projects on, for example, Anti-discrimination Legislation and Indigenous Peoples in Africa have been undertaken. Until recently, the Centre also ran a volunteer program for students, the Southern African Students Volunteers (SASVO) to undertake construction and repair work in the poorest areas of South Africa and the sub-region. Working with the Centre for the Study of AIDS (CSA) also based at the University of Pretoria, the Centre has been engaged in research and community projects in the field of HIV and AIDS.
Challenges
Probably the biggest challenge facing the Centre is the uncertainty which goes with being dependent on donors for the funding of our various programs. Because of this uncertainty CHR is unable to make long-term plans as it is constantly seeking new sources of and sustained funding. The Centre is an engine of new ideas that are nevertheless impossible to deliver fully without funding. While the situation has improved somewhat, due to participants in the programs increasingly contributing to their expenses, the costs associated with these program and many of the other projects CHS presents remain very high and the need for donor support remains essential.
CHR’s annual income from donors in 2006 amounted to South African Rand 17,516,666.28 (approximately US$2.5 million). Its biggest donor is the European Union. Other donors include: RWI, the Netherlands Embassy, DAAD, Ireland Embassy, France Embassy, UNDP, British High Commission, Norwegian Embassy, University of Oslo, Belgium Embassy, UNEP, The Commonwealth Secretariat, the European Foundation for HMR, University for Peace, Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation, BTC Belgium, AUSAID, Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, Canada Word Youth, UN Foundation, Carnegie Endowment, Finland Embassy, USAID, Swiss Development Cooperation, and Argentine Embassy. Another challenge is the inadequacy of most university libraries across the continent and the absence of research libraries in many countries. The center’s contribution to alleviating this situation has been recognized by all across the spectrum of human rights actors in Africa.
Opportunities
Sustained financial support from private foundations would make it possible for the Centre to continue contributing to human rights education and good governance in Africa. It would make possible the implementation of new ideas which draw on the successes of the established programs and the unique networks forged over the past 20 years.
