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13 November 2018 Photo Moeketsi Mogotsi
Campaigns are a loudhailer on violence
Kovsies took an active stance against sexual and gender-based violence through various campaigns in October.

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President Cyril Ramaphosa recently announced that South Africa will launch a national strategic plan to tackle gender-based violence (GBV) after years of lobbying by activists. Speaking at the Presidential GBV Summit, the head of state commended activists who called for a nationwide shut down in August in response to high levels of GBV and femicide in the country. He says the government is now reviewing national GBV plans and will develop a national action plan.

Activism at the UFS

One of the efforts launched by the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Gender and Sexual Equity (GSE) Office in the fight against this plague is the # RESPECTME campaign. From 11 to 26 October 2018, the university held its own 16 Days of Activism.

Geraldine Lengau of the GSE Office believes that minority groups deserve the same amount of respect as all other citizens of this country, which is the core concept of the campaign. “The Campaign is a loudhailer to say, ‘just because I am different from you’, be it gender or sexuality, it doesn’t mean that I deserve any less respect,” she highlighted.

Lengau added: “Activism will forever remain important on our campuses as it creates an environment where the community is made aware of matters that would otherwise not have mattered had they not been publicised. Also activism becomes all the more important in advancing the university’s strategic plan.”

Policies advocating against GBV

As stipulated in the UFS Sexual Harassment, Misconduct and Sexual Violence Policy the university strongly believes in the principle of human dignity that is entrenched in the Constitution of South Africa (1996) which resolves to ensure a safe working and study environment for students. 

Student Affairs also led a campaign which aimed to highlight the ongoing scourge of sexual and gender-based violence, in line with the policy. “The university is working relentlessly at endorsing the aspects and characteristic traits of respect amongst all of its stakeholders in an effort to reduce the notion of gender-based violence,” said the Dean of Student Affairs, Pura Mgolombane.

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Students speak at Faculty of Law as part of Blackstone Legal Fellowship Programm
2012-08-01

 
At the event were, from the left: Elizabeth Oklevitch, Ewelina Ochab, Prof. Shaun de Freitas and Prof. Andries Raath, also from the Department of Constitutional Law and Philosophy of Law.
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs
1 August 2012

Two students from abroad, Elizabeth Oklevitch, studying at the Regent University School of Law, Virginia Beach in the US, and Ewelina Ochab, a postgraduate student with a Diploma in Law who received her LLB from the University of Kent at Canterbury, have each delivered a 15-minute presentation at the Faculty of Law. These presentations are part of the six-week practical leg of the Blackstone Legal Fellowship Programme, held annually in Phoenix, Arizona.

This is the fourth consecutive year that the Faculty of Law has been involved in this initiative.

Oklevitch spoke on the impact of the natural law grounding of Sir William Blackstone’s system of rights and Ochab about the margin of appreciation in the case A, B and C v Ireland.

According to Prof. Shaun de Freitas from the Department of Constitutional Law and Philosophy of Law, the programme is aimed at teaching law students the importance of religious freedoms and rights. The programme is run by Alliance Defending Freedoms (ADF) in the US.

“The programme (in its 14th year) accommodates more than 130 students at the moment, representing schools of law in the United States (which include the universities of Duke, Harvard, Notre Dame, New York and Yale) and Europe. To date, approximately 1 100 students have completed the programme,” said Prof. De Freitas.
 

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