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On 24 January 2019 the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria bid farewell to Professor Karin van Marle from its Department of Jurisprudence. Professor Van Marle joined the Department of Jurisprudence (then known as the Department of Legal History, Comparative Law and Legal Philosophy) as a senior lecturer in 1999 and left the services of the University of Pretoria at the end of January 2019.

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The Disability Rights Unit at the Centre for Human Rights seeks to appoint an appropriately qualified individual (student) for its internship programme, based in Hatfield, Pretoria, South Africa

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The Centre congratulates the government, parliament and people of Angola, for the brave steps taken, through its judicial reform programme, towards the decriminalisation of ‘habitual unnatural vices’, into which consensual adult same-sex sexual conduct was read.

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The Centre is deeply concerned by the reported ongoing human rights violations in our immediate northern neighbour, taking the form of excessive use of force and restrictions on the free flow of information.

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The Information Regulator and the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria invite you to the 11th International conference of information commissioners (ICIC 2019).

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On 11 December 2018, the Constitutional Court of South Africa in the matter between Law Society of South Africa and Others v. The President of the Republic of South Africa and Others, upheld the 1 March 2018 decision of the Northern Gauteng High Court that the President’s decision and signing of the 2014 Protocol which disbanded the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal was unconstitutional, unlawful and irrational. The Court thereby ordered the President to withdraw his signature from the 2014 Protocol to the SADC Tribunal.

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Former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke was awarded an honorary doctorate at the University of Pretoria’s Centre for Human Rights Graduation Ceremony on Friday. The event, at which degrees were awarded to students in human rights, commemorated 100 years since the birth of former President Nelson Mandela, and 70 years since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

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On 10 and 11 December 2018, the Amsterdam Rainbow made its debut on the African continent in the Gauteng Province. The Amsterdam Rainbow dress is ‘ a work of art made from the flags of all countries in the world where homosexuality is illegal’. Being that most of the flags that make up the dress are African, it is important that the dress has come in its beauty to symbolise this sad truth.

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On 10 December 2018, staff of the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria were at the University of Kwazunatal to mark the International Human Rights Day at the AfroGames 2018 which included a Symposium on ‘Decolonising of LGBTI rights in Africa’.

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Almost half the students that make up this year’s GradStar programme’s top 10 are from the University of Pretoria. Bernice Mabaya and Roger Wyllie, from the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, and the Law Faculty’s Kirsten Dempsey and Michelle Oelofse all made the cut.

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The Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria (UP) is proud to announce that Professor Dire Tladi in the Department of Public Law has been awarded the very prestigious Fulbright Research Grant and will take up a position as Global Visiting Professor in Law at the University of California Irvine. During this period he will finalise his fourth report on jus cogens (a peremptory norm [Latin for "compelling law"] which refers to those rules of international law from which no derogation is permitted. In addition he will prepare the Commentary for the International Law Commission’s Draft Conclusions on Peremptory Norms of General International Law which will likely influence the jurisprudence of international and national courts.

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At the Centre's Graduation Ceremony on 7 December 2018, which is the last Graduation Ceremony to be presided over by the current Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University, Professor Cheryl de la Rey, an honorary doctorate degree will be awarded to former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke. The event, at which degrees are awarded to students in human rights, commemorates 100 years since the birth of former President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, and 70 years since the adoption of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

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On 4 November 2018 the Faculty of Law and in particular the Department of Jurisprudence at the University of Pretoria said goodbye to Dr Isolde de Villiers who has decided to pursue a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of the Free State as from February 2019. She is leaving the services of UP Law at the end of December 2018.

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The Department of Mercantile Law in the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria is proud to announce that it has experienced a ‘bull market’ of a year.

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Christof Heyns, professor in the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, was appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, of which he is a member, to lead a two-year process to draft guidelines on the proper management of demonstrations. This will be the leading UN text setting out the international legal and other standards determining how States must approach mass protest and other forms of assembly.

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The Centre participated in the CSO forum of the ACERWC which took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 9 to 12 November 2018 under the theme, ‘leave no child behind for Africa’s development: Setting the CSO agenda’. The Centre also participated in the 32nd session of the ACERWC which was held from 12 to 20 November 2018 in Addis Ababa.

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Dr Joel Modiri presented aspects of his award-winning research paper at Columbia University’s Institute for Research in African-American Studies in New York recently, and will talk about his research again at UCLA Law School in February 2019.

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The Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria is proud to announce that one of its students, Ruvimbo Samanga, recently presented a paper at the 'African Leadership Congress in Space and Technology' in Abuja, Nigeria, where she became a member of the 'Space Generation Advisory Council for the United Nations' and that of the 'Women in Aerospace in Africa' Committee, promoting an African Space Agency.

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When nature calls, we need a toilet. But a significant number of South African learners don’t have one or don’t have a reliable one. Poor sanitation in schools is prevalent nationwide. Gauteng and the Western Cape, for instance, don’t have enough suitable sanitation facilities due to the influx of learners and the subsequent overcrowding.

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South Africa ratified the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (the Children’s Charter) in 2000. Its main obligation under this African Union treaty is to ensure that the rights of children in the country are fulfilled. As a State Party to the Charter, South Africa is also required to periodically report on the progress that is has made towards implementing the Charter. In terms of article 43(1) of the African Children’s Charter, which regulates the reporting procedure, an initial report to the African Committee of Expert on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (the Committee) is required within two years of ratifying the Charter, and thereafter every three years.

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