The Global Campus International Conference will take place on 9 December 2019 at the seat of the Global Campus Africa, University of Pretoria, South Africa. The focus of this conference is on how to effectively implement the recommendations of the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty from a regional perspective.

Download UN Global Study 

As such, the conference will not only discuss the topic of deprivation of liberty in the Southern African region, but it will simultaneously also serve as a one-day sub-regional launch of the Global Study. Consequently, the Global Campus International Conference will bring together key stakeholders from members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), African Union representatives, the Indian Ocean Island States, academia and other strategic partners. In this way, the conferences aims to facilitate a multilateral discussion on the strategic implementation of the Global Study recommendations and effective long-term follow-up.

In order to allow for an inclusive process, this international event will be open to State representatives and other relevant stakeholders from the region. Manfred Nowak (the Independent Expert of the Study as well as the Secretary-General of the Global Campus) together with relevant partners would, therefore, like to also invite representatives of States, UN Agencies, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), academia and most importantly, children.

The Global Campus International Conference also serves as an opportunity for members from the Global Campus regions to meet and discuss issues related to our activities – particularly also our activities related to the rights of the child. We are also glad to announce the meeting of the Assembly of the Global Campus of Human Rights, which will be held on 10 and 11 December 2019, in the margins of the annual Global Campus International Conference.

This meeting marks the final step in the transformation of the association formerly known as EIUC into the Global Campus of Human Rights, with the election of the new Global Campus Council by all member universities. This newly elected Council will then formally take over the functions previously performed by the EIUC Board of Administrators. The Global Campus Assembly will freely elect a majority of eight members of the Global Campus Council, while seven seats are occupied permanently by representatives of the coordinating universities of the regional programmes (with the chair of the EMA Council occupying the seat for EMA).

This International Conference also serves as a celebration – marking the 25th anniversary of the regional programme of the Global Campus in Africa, which will culminate in the HRDA Graduation Ceremony. A special HRDA Alumni Conference forms a part of the activities as well, bringing together HRDA alumni from all across the region. Finally, in order for our international participants to learn more about the history of South Africa as the host country, the programme includes an excursion to Freedom Park as well as a field trip.

 “UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty”