Advanced Human Rights Course: Sexual Minority Rights 

The Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, will host a one-week intensive short course on sexual minority rights from 26 February to 2 March 2018.

Apply online for this course

Deadline for applications:

• Local Applicants: 12 February  2018
• International Applicants: 29 January 2018

The Advanced Human Rights Course on Sexual Minorities in Africa introduces participants to basic SOGIE concepts and a thematic and geographical exposition of challenges faced by LGBTI persons in Africa. This course is designed for people who wish to obtain basic/introductory information, an understanding of the terminology and a general appreciation of the problems faced by LGBTI persons in realising basic human rights in many societies. Participants are helped to understand ways in which they can make a contribution to advancing the rights of LGBTI persons, especially at national level. The course focuses strongly on strategies for litigation and advocacy/lobbying at national level. Participants typically include academics; police officers and magistrates (who often lack basic knowledge and are often accused of abusing LGBTI persons); NGOs which do not work on sexual minority rights issues, for example, or who have only recently begun to do so and need capacity building. They may also include National Human Rights Institutions, which are neither civil society organisations nor government departments and who can play an important role in countries where national governments are unsympathetic to LGBTI issues.

The Centre for Human Rights also presents a second course on Sexual Minorities in Africa and is a more technical course, designed to train LGBTI activists on how to engage with the African Union and United Nations human rights bodies - understanding the history, composition and working of these supra-national bodies, as well as how to bring cases / communications before these bodies. The course examines case law as well as legal and political strategies used in the past. This helps participants formulate their own strategies and develop networks. The course is interactive and includes practical exercises, in which participants receive training on the processes and procedures of AU and UN human rights bodies. They are also able to share experiences and inspire each other. Participants typically include LGBTI activists and human rights defenders in general, who at least have some experience of working at the national level. 

For more information, please contact:

• Mr Dennis Antwi  | Tel: +27 (0) 12 420 4197 | Email: [email protected]
• Mr Geoffrey Ogwaro | Tel. +27 (0) 12 420 5409 | Email: [email protected]