OPINION PIECE: INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 10 DECEMBER 2021

Read: Human Rights Violations Against LGBTQI Individuals within South African Public Sector Services by Dr C Westman (Postdoctoral fellow, Free State Centre for Human Rights).

CHRISTOF HEYNS MEMORIAL THESIS AWARD: FSCHR AND FACULTY OF LAW DOCTORATE STUDENT AWARDED SECOND PRIZE

Dr Muhammad Bello, a doctoral student of the Free State Center for Human Rights and Department of Mercantile Law, University of the Free State, was named as runner-up in the Christof Heyns Memorial Thesis Award for his doctoral thesis The place of socio-economic rights in sovereign debt governance under the supervision of Prof Elizabeth Snyman-Van Deventer and Dr Annelie de Man ... Read the article

HUMAN RIGHTS AMBASSADORS PROMOTES THE DIGNITY OF ALL

During the first term of 2021 the Human Rights Ambassadors hosted a number of online and on-campus events to raise awareness of human rights. This included a Human Rights Week campaign in celebration of Human Rights Day (21 March 2021). Ambassadors handed out pamphlets on campus and shared videos and posters promoting human rights on social media platforms. One of these videos can be viewed here: Human Rights Day 2021.

Other exciting events included:

• Presentation and dialogue session on the content of section 29 of the Constitution (right to basic education)
• Awareness-raising campaign on gender-based violence
• Dialogue session on rape culture and the different forms it can take
• Movie night highlighting where human rights come from
• Freedom Day (27 April) quiz
• Various dialogues sessions on the importance of Freedom Day
• Candle light ceremony in celebration of Youth Day (16 June)
• Dialogue session with UFS Protection Services on the right to protest and freedom of assembly
• Dialogue session and poster campaign around LGBTQI rights and the importance of pronouns
• Campus-wide Youth Day quiz
  
  

WOMEN'S MONTH

FSCHR decries violence against women and children and highlights the urgent need for Ubuntu and transformation ... Watch the video here

HUMAN RIGHTS AMBASSADORS CELEBRATE WOMEN'S DAY The Human Rights Ambassadors of the FSCHR celebrated Women’s Day across the residences of the UFS through a variety of events. This included a dialogue session on women’s rights and the history of Women’s Day (9 August).The events that occurred in 1956, what led to the protest, the leaders of the protest and the outcomes of the protests were all discussed in the dialogue. The second segment of the dialogue covered gender-based violence and feminism.

READ: HUMAN RIGHTS AND TRANSFORMATION IN AFRICA

An opinion article by Prof Toyin Falola, Extraordinary Professor of Human Rights in the Free State Centre for Human Rights City Press
https://www.news24.com/citypress/voices/human-rights-and-decolonisation-in-africa-are-intertwined-20210323

HUMAN RIGHTS AMBASSADORS COMMERORATE HUMAN RIGHTS DAY

On 21 March 2021, the Human Rights Ambassadors of the FSCHR commemorated Human Rights Day by sharing videos and posters with off- and on-campus residence members. A Human Rights Week campaign was also held on the Bloemfontein campus of the UFS. Booklets and pamphlets were handed out to inform students about the Centre and engage on the topic of human rights. 

HUMAN RIGHTS DAY PANEL DISCUSSION 2021

‘Africa / Human Rights / Transformation’ – A conversation with Johan Froneman, Dhaya Pillay, and Toyin Falola

On 16 March 2021, the FSCHR, in collaboration with the UFS Department of Public Law, hosted a panel discussion in celebration of Human Rights Day 2021. The panel discussed the following themes from their perspectives as judges, academics, and politically aware Africans of different hues and origins: What do Africa, human rights, and transformation have to do with one another? Are human rights instruments for transformation in Africa, neo-colonial impositions, or the last refuge of the privileged? Is transformation a desirable goal for Africa, or a red herring to make us forget about the real work – decolonisation? 

Download the session here

FSCHR WELCOMES THE 2021 INTAKE FOR ITS INTERDISCIPLINARY MASTER'S DEGREE IN HUMAN RIGHTS

On 1 March 2021, the Free State Centre for Human Rights welcomed the fourth annual cohort of students admitted to the Interdisciplinary Master’s Degree in Human Rights. This year, a group of 21 students selected from a pool of more than 160 applications took up offers of admission and have started their studies. This number continues the trajectory of increase in student numbers that the Centre has managed over the last three years – from an initial group of 11 students to 21 this year.

A key feature of the Interdisciplinary Master's Degree in Human Rights is its capacity to accommodate students and professionals from any academic background. This year the Centre counts lawyers and law students, psychologists, social activists, municipal workers, and people coming from the fields of philosophy, technology, and engineering among its students.

During a virtual session at the start of the first block week of virtual teaching in the programme, the class of 2021 was welcomed by Profs John Mubangizi, Karin van Marle (Dean and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Law), and Danie Brand, Director of the Free State Centre for Human Rights.

After their opening remarks, the programme commenced with its first block week teaching session, from 1 to 5 March 2021. The group will spend the first semester completing two core modules in the centre and the second semester on elective modules presented by colleagues from a range of other departments and faculties. The second year of study will be devoted to the completion of a mini-dissertation.

 

READ: PROFESSIONALS WORKING TO COMBAT CHILD ABUSE FACE A TOUGH NEW WORLD UNDER COVID-19

An opinion article by Dr Marcel van der Watt, Research Fellow at the Free State Centre for Human Rights Daily Maverick.

https://www-dailymaverick-co-za.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2021-01-26-professionals-working-to-combat-child-abuse-face-a-tough-new-world-under-covid-19/amp 

FSCHR EXTRAORDINARY PROFESSOR, JUDGE DHAYA PILLAY, APPOINTED TO ACT ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF SOUTH AFRICA

The Free State Centre for Human Rights congratulates our extraordinary professor Judge Dhaya Pillay, on her appointment as an Acting Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. Judge Pillay will serve in this capacity for the first term of our country’s highest court in 2021.

Judge Pillay has also been shortlisted for a permanent position on the Constitutional Court and will sit for interviews before the Judicial Service Commission in May 2021. She was nominated for this position by the Free State Centre for Human Rights.

Judge Pillay joins the Constitutional Court from her position as a judge on the KwaZulu-Natal High Court, where she has served since 2009. She has previously served an acting term on the Supreme Court of Appeal and was a judge on the Labour Court.

She joined the Free State Centre for Human Rights as an extraordinary professor in December 2020.

The Free State Centre for Human Rights is proud to be associated with Judge Pillay and wishes her all the best with the daunting responsibility ahead of her.