On Monday 13 May 2019, the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, hosted participants on the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). Approximately fifty youth leaders and two YALI facilitators attended the programme, representing a number of countries in Southern Africa, including Botswana, Eswatini, Kenya, Mozambique, Mozambique, Madagascar, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The Centre was represented by the Women’s Rights Unit (Ade Johnson and Lydia Chibwe), the SOGIESC Unit (Geoffrey Ogwaro), the Disability Rights Unit (Dianah Msipa) and the Communications and Marketing team (David Ikpo).

The programme commenced with brief discussions on the Centre’s work, with presentations on a number of topics relating to human rights. The emphasis was on legal and human rights instruments relating to the human rights of disabled persons, sexual minority groups as well as women and girls.

The Disability Rights Unit highlighted the existing global and regional legal frameworks for the protection of disability rights and explained what it means to be a disabled person, using two models: the medical and the social. The negative impact of stereotyping and labelling disabled persons was highlighted while participants were implored to stand up for the human rights of persons living with disabilities.

The SOGIESC Unit introduced key concepts such as sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics. The #MenAreTrash campaign was discussed and sparked a lively and interesting debate.

The Women’s Rights Unit also reflected on the #MenAreTrash campaign as well as the alarming rates of gender-based violence (GBV), especially in South Africa. The Unit discussed distressing statistics, showing that one in three women have suffered or would suffer from some form of violence in their lives. The rising rates of intimate partner violence (IPV), rape and femicide, on both a global and domestic level, were discussed.  

After the discussion, a short video on GBV was screened and YALI participants discussed what they have learned from the video. They were urged to make efforts to learn, relearn and unlearn negative stereotypes that reinforced violence against women and reminded about their potential to become powerful influencers of their world.

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