This year for the first time, students from Somaliland, Nigeria and the US joined the programme

Pretoria, South Africa, January 28, 2008 - Constitutional court Justice Kate O'Regan has welcomed 32 new students from 21 countries to the University of Pretoria's LLM degree in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa.

Guests included Professor John Dugard, ad hoc judge in the International Court of Justice in The Hague and special rapporteur for the UN Human Rights Council on the occupied Palestinian Territory, former constitutional court judge Johann Kriegler and Zonke Majodina of the SA Human Rights Commission.

In the past nine years, 227 students from 32 countries in Africa have completed the degree, which is presented by the Centre for Human Rights at the law faculty.

This year for the first time, students from Somaliland, Nigeria and the US joined the programme.

O'Regan stressed that the opportunity to study international human rights law carried with it a responsibility to use this knowledge to improve the lives of people in Africa.

Source: Pretoria News