IHRE Lecture Series & Events

The IHRE Guest Lecture Series is designed as a complement to the core inter-disciplinary law course, Human Rights: Perspectives from the Disciplines. Mandatory for IHRE participants, the lectures are open to the general public and are intended to stimulate debate on a range of themes that relate to human rights issues. Prominent academics, practitioners, and commentators are invited to deliver the guest lectures; which are hosted in various venues at Wits and in the greater Johannesburg region. The lecture series aims, ultimately, to build a vibrant "human rights community" that engages with human rights using lenses that are innovative and thought-provoking.

2007 IHRE Guest Lecture Series

Friday 20 July: IHRE Welcome Dinner

Guest Speaker: George Bizos, Renowned Human Rights Advocate

“Human Rights in the Twenty First Century”

Wednesday 1 August 2007    

Guest Speaker: Professor Roger Berkowitz; Bard College

“Hannah Arendt's New Law on Earth”  

Theme: Philosophy and Human Rights           

Monday 3 September 2007

Guest Speaker: Terry Kurgan; Photographer and Mixed-Media Artist

“Material Ghosts: Photography and the City” 

Theme: Media and Human Rights     

Wednesday 26 September 2007       

Guest Speaker: Yasmin Sooka; Foundation for Human Rights & TRC

“After the TRC: Legacies and Unfinished Business”

Theme: Amnesty, Transitional Justice & Human Rights  

Other proposed themes include:

• African Literature and Human Rights;
• Constitutionality and Human Rights;
• Migration and Human Rights; and
• HIV/AIDS and Human Rights.

IHRE Human Rights Roundtable Discussions

Monday 23 July 2007

"Human Rights in Africa: Perspectives from Western and Southern Africa"

Guest Participants: 

• Advocate Tseliso Thipanyane, CEO, South African Human Rights Commission                                                                                                    
• Paula Roque, Research Coordinator, South African Institute of International Affairs

October 2007 (Proposed)

“Land Rights in Southern Africa”

Tentative Guest Participants: 

• Andile Mngxitama; Landless People’s Movement, South Africa
• Roy Bennett: Movement for Democractic Change, Zimbabwe