Centre for Human Rights
 |
|
| Type |
Academic department Non-governmental organisation |
|---|---|
| Established | 1986 |
| Director | Frans Viljoen |
| Location |
 Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
|
| Campus | Hatfield |
| Affiliations | University of Pretoria |
| Website | Centre for Human Rights |
The Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria Faculty of Law, South Africa, is an organisation dedicated to promoting human rights on the continent of Africa. The Centre, founded in 1986, promotes human rights through educational outreach, including multinational conferences, seminars and publications such as Human Rights Law in Africa, The African Human Rights Law Journal, the African Human Rights Law Reports and The Constitutional Law of South Africa. The Centre, which was founded during Apartheid, assisted in adapting a Bill of Rights for South Africa and contributed to creating the South African Constitution. In 2006, the Centre received the UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education, particular recognising for the LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa and the African Human Rights Moot Court Competition.
The centre in conjunction with the University of Pretoria Faculty of Law present the following degree courses:
The Centre for Human Rights was established in 1986 by a group of teachers and local leaders who wanted to use education as a tool to combat violations of human rights. At this time the apartheid system was at its peak and this was one of the ways that the people could “fight” intellectually against things getting worst. Their main concerts were increased education of violations of human rights towards: women, people with HIV, indigenous, sexual minorities, and other Marginalized peoples . Their purpose or core value was to get closer to human rights through education in South Africa and later expanded to Africa. Members are not necessarily selected, but rather have gone through one of the undergraduate, master’s or doctorate’s degrees. People in the communities that are working for common causes are brought in, there doesn’t appear to be a reason to not accept new people unless they are against human right advocacy or have a history of doing so. The members have an impressive background; many have taken part in liberation movements outside of South Africa, been part of constitution drafting and become international leaders and advocates. The Centre for Human Rights is fairly new and so is still gaining experience and knowledge of the proper way to get policies and government set up as well as international support. When most people think of non-governmental institutions, the Red Cross would come to mind. It seems like a monumental institution that was built out of hard times, during the apartheid and helped to end it and draft a constitution and come out to be a rather extraordinary group of people that have been a great asset to Africa. In 2006, the Centre for Human Rights received the UNESCO prize for Human Rights specifically for their democratisation in Africa and the Africa Human Rights Moot Court, which is a huge honour and shows that the international relations community is aware of them.
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