Hrda, The Master’s Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa
Lecturers and Staff
Programme Director
Prof. Frans Viljoen
Frans Viljoen is the Director of the Centre for Human Rights in the Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria. His area of research is regional human rights protection, with particular emphasis on the African Union human rights standards, institutions and processes within their socio-economic and political context.
He is the author of International human rights law in Africa, which is one of the leading texts on the African human rights system. In 2000, he became the founding editor of the leading journal on human rights in Africa, the African Human Rights Law Journal, and has since then served as editor-in-chief for this publication.
Since 2017 he has been serving as founding editor of the African Human Rights Yearbook and the Global Campus Human Rights Journal.
He has served as visiting professor at several universities worldwide. Frans leads a number of teams that supported aspects of the mandate for special mechanisms of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
Contact:
Tel: +27 (0)12 420 2374
E-mail: frans.viljoen@up.ac.za
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Programme Manager
Dr Michelle R. Maziwisa
Michelle has been a postdoctoral researcher at the Dullah Omar Institute, Multilevel Government Unit where she presented various postgraduate seminars, including on local government elections and women’s representation and coordinated the project on Local Government ‘Urban-Rural Interplay’ (LoGov).
She is a recipient of the prestigious Ronald Watts Young Scholar Award for her essay on External Economic Arrangements and South African Cities as Agents of Local Development which was subsequently published as noted below.
Her work on women’s rights is broad, and includes sexual and reproductive rights, representation and participation in democratic processes, and feminist trade justice. Dr Maziwisa holds a Doctor of Laws Degree in Public Law (LLD) (focusing on international trade and investment law) from the University of the Western Cape and Master of Laws in Commercial Law (LLM) from the University of Cape Town South Africa (including a semester abroad at the Bucerius Law School (Hamburg, Germany). She is a Marie Curie fellow, and has conducted research stays at various institutes including the Institute for Comparative Federalism (ICF) at Eurac Research (Bolzano, Italy), Institute of Federalism, University of Fribourg (Switzerland), and Hamburg University.
Contact:
Tel: +27 (0) 12 420 6703
E-mail: michelle.maziwisa@up.ac.za
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Academic Coordinator
Prof. Magnus Killander
Magnus Killander is Professor of human rights law at the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria.
His research interests are socio-economic rights, African human rights law, African regional integration law, international human rights monitoring mechanisms, relationship between domestic law and international law. He holds an LLD (UP).
Contact:
Tel: +27 (0)12 420 5407
E-mail: magnus.killander@up.ac.za
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Project Coordinator
Johannes Buabeng-Baidoo
Johannes, Human Rights activist, is in charge of arranging the different administrative aspects of the course and ensures the smooth running of the course on a day‐to‐day basis.
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Tutors
Programme tutors provide academic support and guidance to students during the first semester.
Marystella Auma Simiyu
Email: marystella.simiyu@up.ac.za
Wilson Macharia
Email: wilsonmash93@gmail.com
Lornah Afoyomungu
Email: afoyomungu2012@gmail.com
Clement Agyemang
Email: clementwisdom77@gmail.com