News

At the 56th ACHPR Ordinary Session, which was held in Banjul, The Gambia, from 21 April to 7 May 2015, the ACHPR Committee for the Prevention of Torture in Africa (CPTA) decided that its first General Comment on Article 5 and the prevention and prohibition of torture would examine the right to redress for victims of torture and other ill-treatment.

After a very successful a 2-day Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (SPLUMA) implementation course in Cape Town earlier this year, Community Law Centre’s Prof Jaap de Visser and African Centre for Cities’ Stephen Berrisford, are very happy to be presenting the course in Gauteng on 30 and 31 July 2015, at the Sunnyside Park Hotel.

Prof Jaap de Visser delivered the key note address at a Youth Summit organised by the Drakenstein Municipality. The Summit focused on the role of the youth in local government.

Mozambique's new Penal Code came into effect today 29 June 2015, despite wide expectation that government would delay implementation of the law

On 22 and 23 June 2015 the Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA) in conjunction with the Community Law Centre (CLC), University of the Western Cape organised a colloquium on Strategic Litigation on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Africa.

No Sábado dia 20 de Junho, os Serviços de Investigação Criminal (SIC) e a Polícia Nacional prenderam e encarceraram treze jovens activistas políticos e defensores de direitos humanos, numa residência onde discutiam questões políticas relacionadas com o estado da democracia em Angola. Depois de serem presos cada um deles foi levado para a sua residência algemados e a polícia fez buscas e confiscou equipamento informático e documentos, nomeadamente; computadores, máquinas fotográficas, agendas pessoais, revistas, documentos vários e cartões de recarga telefónica que encontraram. Muitos destes equipamentos e documentos são pertença de membros da família. A operação policial aconteceu sem qualquer “mandado de prisão ou de busca” e muitas vezes a polícia armada usou violência para entrar nas residências.

Community Law Centre’s Prof Jaap de Visser participated in the Commonwealth Local Government Forum's 20th Anniversary Conference in Gaborone, Botswana. He presented a paper at the Conference's Research Colloquium. His presentation was entitled "Lesotho's 2014 National Decentralisation Policy in comparative perspective". The paper examines the government of Lesotho's intention to deepen devolution in the Mountain Kingdom.

Shehaam Johnstone, a doctoral researcher with the Community Law Centre presented a paper on the intersection of multilevel government with food security Imperatives, during the 3rd annual conference on Critical Law and Governance Perspectives on Food Security in South Africa. The theme of the conference was “Exploring the Role of Policy-Makers and other Stakeholders.”