2021 marks 10 years of collaboration between the Government of Flanders and the Centre for Human Rights of the University of Pretoria for the Advanced Human Rights Courses. Flanders lends support to three courses: “Sexual Minorities' Rights”, “Right to Development in Africa” and “African Human Rights System in Comparative Perspectives” – part of a series of courses run throughout the academic year. These three courses address human rights aspects, which are valued and entrenched in the foreign and domestic policies of Flanders. The collaboration also involves the participation of lecturers from Flemish universities.

This week’s course on “African Human Rights System in Comparative Perspectives” takes place in a blended format, with 20 students on campus in Pretoria and some 70 students from around the African continent participating virtually. It focuses on human rights law, treaties, institutions and role players in the development and enforcement of human rights norms in Africa. Professors Yves Haeck and Clara Burbano-Herrera of the Universiteit Gent provided a non-African perspective, and discussed the European human rights system and Inter-American human rights system respectively. General Representative of the Government of Flanders, Dr Geraldine Reymenants, delivered opening remarks on Wednesday 17 March, and elaborated on Flanders’s involvement in the international human rights system.

For further information, see https://www.chr.up.ac.za/courses/ahrc