The 2022 Advanced Human Rights Course (AHRC) on the African human rights systems in comparative perspectives took place from 4 - 8 April 2022. The course was hosted by the Centre for Human Rights, University of in collaboration with Ghent University.

This year, the course was presented in a hybrid format with Masters’ in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa (HRDA) and Multi-Disciplinary Human rights (MDHR) attending physically at the University of Pretoria’s Future Africa Campus, while about 60 participants from all over the world joined the course online via zoom. Approximately 24 African countries and Belgium were represented in this year’s course. Participants were drawn from a variety of sectors including; legal practitioners, human rights advocates, government staff members, members of parliament, members of the judiciary, academics and members of civil society organisations.

The course began with a word of welcome, a setting of the course scenes, an introduction to the course programme and course exercises by Prof Magnus Killander, Professor of Human Rights Law who is the main course coordinator. Prof Frans Viljoen, the Director of the Centre for Human Rights, began the course discussions with a lecture on the African Charter and its monitoring bodies and on ways to advance human rights through the African human rights system. He encouraged participants to remain steadfast in their work towards building the African systems and he concluded by saying that “the challenges faced by the African human rights system such as insufficient funding and political influence should not discourage the African human rights movement but should be considered a strength to forge on”. Dr Nkatha Murungi, Assistant Director, Centre for Human rights concluded the first day of discussions with an interactive session on Children’s rights in the African human rights system.

This year, the course was presented in a hybrid format with Masters’ in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa (HRDA) and Multi-Disciplinary Human rights (MDHR) attending physically at the University of Pretoria’s Future Africa Campus, while about 60 participants from all over the world joined the course online via zoom. Approximately 24 African countries and Belgium were represented in this year’s course. Participants were drawn from a variety of sectors including; legal practitioners, human rights advocates, government staff members, members of parliament, members of the judiciary, academics and members of civil society organisations.

The course began with a word of welcome, a setting of the course scenes, an introduction to the course programme and course exercises by Prof Magnus Killander, Professor of Human Rights Law who is the main course coordinator. Prof Frans Viljoen, the Director of the Centre for Human Rights, began the course discussions with a lecture on the African Charter and its monitoring bodies and on ways to advance human rights through the African human rights system. He encouraged participants to remain steadfast in their work towards building the African systems and he concluded by saying that “the challenges faced by the African human rights system such as insufficient funding and political influence should not discourage the African human rights movement but should be considered a strength to forge on”. Dr Nkatha Murungi, Assistant Director, Centre for Human rights concluded the first day of discussions with an interactive session on Children’s rights in the African human rights system.