LATEST NEWS AND EVENTS

CALL FOR PAPERS: COLLOQUIUM ON CORRUPTION AND HUMAN RIGHTS

The Free State Centre for Human Rights at the University of the Free State is organising a colloquium on corruption and human rights to take place on 18 and 19 September 2025 to be held at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.

The colloquium seeks to explore and unpack the relationship between corruption and human rights, and organisers invite the submission of abstracts of papers engaging with this topic. See the call for papers for more information.

 

 

 

FREE STATE CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AT UFS HOSTS INAUGURAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY LECTURE

As South Africa commemorates Human Rights Month, the Free State Centre for Human Rights in the Faculty of Law at the University of the Free State (UFS) hosted its first Human Rights Day Lecture on 19 March 2025. Read more.

 



Human Rights Month at the UFS: Championing equality and inclusivity

As we celebrate Human Rights Month, the University of the Free State (UFS) remains committed to fostering a campus culture where human rights are actively upheld and respected. This ongoing dedication aligns with Vision 130, a guiding principle that drives the UFS’s efforts in creating an inclusive, equitable environment for students, faculty, and staff. Read more.

WATCH: Video on the work of the Free State Centre for Human Rights https://youtu.be/nKmWItNgCpU 


human-rights-month-2025

UFS LAW SCHOLARS CONTRIBUTE TO KEY UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL FORUM IN GENEVA

Human Rights Month in South Africa presents an opportune moment to reflect on the continued importance of the work of the University of the Free State (UFS) Faculty of Law in advancing human rights on a global stage.

Two distinguished academics from the Law Faculty, Prof Serges Kamga, Dean of the Faculty of Law, and Prof Gerard Kamga, Associate Professor in the Free State Centre for Human Rights at the UFS, recently attended the Social Forum of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. Read more.

 

ABOUT

The Free State Centre for Human Rights is a criticalinterdisciplinary, and contextually engaged research, advocacy, and legal-practice institution, focusing in its work on the relationship between human rights and transformation.

This relationship is approached from a critical perspective that recognises its double-handed nature; the fact that human rights, in whatever context, relate both positively and negatively to transformation, can both enable and hinder transformation.

Within the broad framework-concern with the relationship between human rights and transformation, the Centre’s work coalesces around three thematic focus areas: impoverishment; democracy; and identity. This means that the Centre’s 

work and its research community is interdisciplinary, drawing on a range of different disciplines and combining insights and wisdom from a variety of fields.

Although the Centre is primarily an academic research institution, its work is contextually engaged. Apart from its Research and Postgraduate Division, the Centre consists of an Advocacy Division that engages in transformation related human rights advocacy on the UFS campus and a Legal Services Division that operates as a Free State-focused public interest litigation unit in cooperation with the UFS Law Clinic.

All the Centre’s work is geographically located: research, advocacy, and litigation focus on issues on the UFS campuses, in Bloemfontein and in the Free State Province.


DIVISIONS

Research and Postgraduate

Research and Postgraduate

In terms of Research, the Free State Centre for Human Rights focuses on the relationship between human rights and transformation, from a critical, inter-disciplinary and contextually engaged framework. Read more.

advocacy

Advocacy

The Advocacy Division promotes transformation through human rights education and advocacy on the UFS campuses and more broadly in the Free State Province, Lesotho, and South Africa. Read more.

LEGAL SERVICES 1

Legal Services

The Legal Services Division  is a human rights strategic litigation unit that litigates on behalf of clients on brief or as amicus curiae seeking the protection of human rights, social justice and transformation. Read more.


POSTGRADUATE TEACHING

HR

Interdisciplinary Master of Human Rights

This coursework Master's programme is designed to accommodate students and professionals from various academic disciplines. With its mode of delivery online with no residency requirement, the programme can be completed part-time. Read more.

 

Masters by Dissertation

Master's Degree by Dissertation

The Free State Centre for Human Rights offers the Master’s Degree by Full Dissertation. The programme provides students with the relevant skills to work independently as well as under supervision. Read more.

LLD PHD

LLD/PhD Programme

The Free State Centre offers a doctoral programme in Human Rights including LLD (Doctor of Laws) and PhD (Doctor of Philosophy). The former is dedicated to candidates with a law background while the latter is for those with background other than law. Read more.


 
 

FACULTY CONTACT

T: +27 51 401 2451
F: + 27 51 401 3043

E: law@ufs.ac.za

Equitas Building
UFS Bloemfontein Campus

Law photo for next to contact block

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