Deadline: 19-Jul-22
The Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, in collaboration with the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, has launched a one-week intensive short course (online) on Civil Society Law in Africa from 1 to 5 August 2022.
The aim of the course is to strengthen capacity with respect to the legal and regulatory principles affecting civil society and to provide opportunities for interaction among legal professionals, civil society leaders, students, government officials and legislators across the region with a view to facilitating the exchange of ideas and experiences.
Through the Legal Education Initiative, ICNL partners with selected African educational institutions to promote the study of laws affecting civil society. The Legal Education Initiative seeks to:
- Strengthen the capacity of stakeholders with respect to the legal and regulatory principles affecting civil society.
- In collaboration with partner institutions and organizations, develop (model) courses on civil society law that cater to a variety of audiences and can be used at law schools, legal aid clinics, continuing education programs, community legal education classes, etc. throughout the region.
- Provide opportunities for interaction among legal professionals, civil society leaders, students, government officials and legislators across the region with a view to facilitating the exchange of ideas and experiences.
Objectives
- To exchange views and experiences about the role of civil society in a State.
- To strengthen capacity on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in international law and comparative perspectives.
- To raise awareness of the challenges civil society faces and efforts to respond to those threats.
- To strengthen capacity, in practice, to identify and analyse legal barriers to the right to freedom of association.
- To stimulate interest in civil society law and encourage further research in this field.
- To build a network of legal professionals working in the field and encourage collaborative efforts within the network.
Topics
Topics may include the following:
- Perspectives on the role of civil society
- Conceptual issues on the right to freedom of association
- Right to freedom of association in Africa and international law
- Regulation of and governance within the civil society sector
- Access to resources and sustainability of associations
- Right to freedom of peaceful assembly including peaceful protest
- Freedom of association and peaceful assembly online
Eligibility Criteria
Potential presenters/facilitators may include:
- Individuals working in the field of civil society law
- Regional and national-level organizations with expertise
- Government representatives
- Representatives from global and regional human rights bodies working on relevant issues e.g. Special Procedures of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the United Nations.
For more information, visit https://www.chr.up.ac.za/courses-presented/civil-society-law-in-africa
