MULTILINGUAL DEBATE TOURNAMENT HOSTED BY FSCHR

A multilingual debate tournament was hosted on the 13th and 14th of October by the Free State Centre for Human Rights. The tournament featured a total of 8 teams, 6 residences and 2 teams from the law faculty student association. With the motto "Creating a diplomatic space for multilingualism", the tournament fostered the use of multilingualism by having the debate teams use at least 2 languages that are recognided with the language policy of the University of the Free State, ie, English, IsiZulu, Afrikaans and Sesotho. The teams went head-to-head to compete for the following titles: multilingual debate winning team, best Afrikaans, Sesotho, and Isizulu speaker, and best overall speaker. Read more.

RELEASE OF THE COMPREHENSIVE 2022 RESEARCH STUDY ON THE SCOPE AND NATURE OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN SOUTH AFRICA

Dr Marcel van der Watt,  research fellow at the Free State Centre for Human Rights, in collaboration with key research partners at LASER PULSE, Purdue University, Khulisa Management Services and the University of the Witwatersrand, released the final multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary study on the scope and nature of human trafficking in South Africa. The national Trafficking in Person (TIP) study, Research into the Nature and Scope of Trafficking in Persons in South Africa: Research Report, was conducted between 2020 and early 2022 to provide evidence on the nature and magnitude of TIP in South Africa to policy makers in the government of South Africa and to development partners, implementing partners and service providers. The evidence of this comprehensive study will elevate data into a more prominent role in public-policy debates and amplify South African institutional capacity to participate in and lead this process through partnership with institutions in the United States and engagement with the government of South Africa. Access the full study here.

FSCHR FEATURED ON SABC NEWS' LEIHLO LA SECHABA: HOW FREEDOM ENHANCES HUMAN RIGHTS  

On Monday, 3 April 2023 the Free State Centre for Human Rights was featured on SABC News' programme Leihlo La Sechaba. Freedom cannot be accomplished without rights being observed. As South Africa celebrates 29 years of democracy, the programme highlights the rights enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and ask what progress has been made. Watch the story here.

The Free State Centre for Human Rights is a critical, interdisciplinary, 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 campus and in Bloemfontein, the Free State Province, and Lesotho.

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

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

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.

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.

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 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.