Pretoria, South Africa

This course, organised by the Human Rights Trust of Southern Africa (SAHRIT), aims to bring pertinent children’s rights issues to the fore and aims to offer the opportunity for participants from different backgrounds and countries of southern Africa to share information and experiences. At the same time study visits will be carried out and presentations and panel discussions by different regional and international experts will be conducted.

This course also aims to give an opportunity for participants to network and to build regional coalitions that will form part of a strategic network to devise regional human rights intervention strategies.

The course content includes:

• Introduction to International Law, with a focus on: International human rights law, international humanitarian law and refugee law.
• Concepts of human rights.
• Main human rights instruments with emphasis on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
• Monitoring and enforcement mechanisms of CRC under the United Nations System and the African Charter.
• Thematic issues on children’s rights; HIV and AIDS, gender, child abuse, child soldiers, refugee children etc.
• Civil and political rights of special groups: women, children, minority and indigenous groups.
• The role of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) in the promotion and protection of human rights.

The course is intended for professionals, researchers, activists, defenders to broaden their knowledge and further develop their human rights expertise on the substantive and institutional aspects of the promotion and protection of children’s rights at national, regional and International levels.

Working and presentation

Different working and presentation methodologies will be employed during the course depending on the subject; such as lectures, thematic feature films, panel
discussions, working groups and workshops, informal sessions for sharing of experiences, getting to know more about each other and each other’s
organisations. Participants will be provided with a reader containing human rights information, books and handouts.

Admission Requirements

Candidates for the course must have working experience in the field of human rights. Participants must be attached to a relevant organisation/institution and must be nominated by that organisation or institution. The number of participants will be limited to 25. Participants will be selected by the Committee of Admission and must meet the general health requirements set out in the application form. The Admission Committee’s decision is final. The working language will be English so participants should be proficient in English. Upon completion of the course and satisfactory participation, each participant will receive a certificate of participation.

Click here for more information.

Deadline date is February 28 2007.

Applicants from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) (and
currently living within SADC) are eligible for a full scholarship.

Applicants from the SADC who are able to pay part or all of their course expenses which
includes dinners, accommodation and airfares stand a better chance to be
selected into this competitive course.

Applicants from outside the SADC are
eligible for a tuition scholarship

All successful applicants including non-SADC applicants will be awarded a tuition scholarship of US$ 3, 000.

Click here to download a PDF document with more information on course applications, fees and on how to apply for scholarships.

Click here to download the application form as a word document.