Action Society
Action Society is an active role player in the fight against gender-based violence (GBV). The purpose of the Action Centre initiative is to deliver practical and tangible support to victims of GBV.
Ahmed Kathrada Foundation (AKF)
The mission of AKF is to deepen non-racialism and create an equitable society. The objectives of AKF are: (a) to promote the values, rights and principles enshrined in the Freedom Charter and the Constitution of South Africa; (b) to record and display Kathrada’s role in South Africa’s liberation struggle and its relation to the role of other individuals, groups and movements; (c) to establish a research and documentation centre that will provide selective historical and contemporary documentation and archival material on liberation history in South Africa and to make this available to others. The AKF has been instrumental in the establishment of the Anti-Racism Network South Africa.
For more information refer to https://www.kathradafoundation.org/.
Alliance for Rural Democracy
The Alliance for Rural Democracy have launched the “Stop the Bantustan Campaign” and established an independent secretariat to actively drive the campaign. The Alliance for Rural Democracy contests policy and legislation that undermines the rights of rural citizens living in the former Bantustans and which threatens to dispossess them of rights in land. The members of the alliance belief such laws, policies and practices distort customary law, undermine security of tenure and rights in land while entrenching the powers of traditional authorities.
For more information refer to https://www.facebook.com/RuralDemocracy/.
Black Sash
The aim of Black Sash is to work towards the realisation of socio-economic rights, as outlined in the South African Constitution, with emphasis on social security and social protection for particularly women and children and the most vulnerable. They believe the implementation of socio-economic rights demands open, transparent and accountable governance (state, corporate and civil society) and should result in significant reduction in poverty and inequality. To this end they promote active civic engagement by a strong and vibrant civil society.
For more information refer to https://www.blacksash.org.za/.
Campaign for Free Expression (CFE)
CFE is a non-profit organisation dedicated to protecting and expanding the right to free expression for all and enabling everyone to exercise this right to the full, whether it by speaking out, by protesting, by revealing information, by blowing the whistle on wrong-doing, by arguing, debating, writing, painting, composing or just by shouting out an opinion.
For more information refer to https://freeexpression.org.za/.
Centre for Human Rights: Doctoral Programme ‘Freedom from Violence in Africa’ (UP)
The Centre for Human Rights introduced a doctoral programme for students from African countries contributing to a research agenda entitled ‘Freedom from Violence in Africa’. The program aims to provide an advanced and specialised education and the availability of expertise in the field of countering violence in Africa, to those students from the continent who will be able to benefit most from the experience. These students are exploring issues related to the right to life and violence reduction, a multi-disciplinary approach to the problem of violence. The programme will aim at establishing a network of African scholars and practitioners with advanced capacity aimed at achieving progress towards Goal 16 of the UN Sustainable Development Agenda. .
For more information refer to http://www.icla.up.ac.za/research/freedom-from-violence.
Centre for Human Rights: Christof Heyns African Human Rights Moot Court Competition
The Christof Heyns African Human Rights Moot Court Competition is the largest gathering of students, academics and judges around the theme of human rights in Africa. This annual event brings together all law faculties in Africa, whose top students argue a hypothetical human rights case as if they were before the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The Competition continuously prepares new generations of lawyers to argue cases of alleged human rights violations before the African Court.
For more information refer to https://www.chr.up.ac.za/moot-courts/african-human-rights-moot-court-competition/english-site.
Centre for Human Rights: United Nations Human Rights Treaties Project
The Centre for Human Rights, in collaboration with the United Nations, are engaging in a Monitoring of United Nations Human Rights Treaties Project. The aim of this project is to develop an online database that will make it possible to measure the impact of the United Nations Human Rights Treaty System in every country in the world.
Children’s Institute (UCT)
Children’s Institute is a child policy research unit based at the University of Cape Town with the explicit intent to contribute to policies, laws and services that promote equality and realise the rights of all children in South Africa. The Institute is conducting a project with the theme: “Including the excluded children: Identifying and addressing barriers to birth registration, social grants and education.” The project is aimed at addressing systemic barriers to birth registration and related exclusion from services where identification is a gateway, including grants and education. Working with paralegals and social service practitioners, they document cases as families try to apply for late registration of birth for their children, social grants and admission to school. The Institute engages with relevant government agencies at national, provincial and district levels, as well as local service centres, advice offices and key role-players within the specific sites, to review the obstacles identified in the cases, identify possible solutions and implement them.
For more information refer to http://www.ci.uct.ac.za/.
Council for the Advancement of the Constitution (CASAC)
CASAC is an initiative led by progressive people who seek to advance the South African Constitution as a platform for democratic politics and the transformation of society. CASAC believes in the advancement of a society whose values are based on the core principles of the Constitution, namely the promotion of socio-economic rights, judicial independence, the rule of law, public accountability, and open governance. The founding members of its Council believe that the people are the ultimate custodians of the Constitution, and that custodianship needs to be relocated from institutions to people. Once constitutional rights are claimed by the many, then ordinary people will undertake extraordinary acts to assert their rights and protect and advance the Constitution
For more information refer to https://casac.org.za/.
Freedom Under Law (FUL)
The aim of FUL is to promote democracy under law by
a) advancing understanding of and respect for the rule of law,
b) litigating in relation to institutional conduct in conflict with the rule of law,
c) strengthening the independence of the judiciary,
d) supporting the legal profession in serving the courts,
e) enhancing understanding between legal role-players, the media and society at large,
f) furthering legal education appropriate to the needs of constitutional democracy and
g) protecting freedom of speech and freedom of the media concerning the administration of justice.
For more information refer to https://www.freedomunderlaw.org/.
Gun Free South Africa (GFSA)
GFSA objectives are to reduce gun violence in South Africa through public advocacy, education, awareness and community mobilisation. A central feature of GFSA’s approach to affecting change is a dual strategy of grassroots mobilisation and influencing public policy at the institutional level. GFSA adopts an evidence-based approach to inform their policy interventions, with a particular focus on influencing systemic change, such as strengthening legislation or improving weapons and ammunition management systems. However, this kind of systemic change requires pressure from below through grassroots community mobilisation, in which communities organise at the local level to reduce gun violence and engage the state at both local and national level to reduce gun violence. Media advocacy is central to GFSA’s strategy, helping shape public discourse on how best to reduce gun violence, raising awareness on the risks of guns, and mobilising communities against gun violence.
For more information refer to https://www.gfsa.org.za/.
Helen Suzman Foundation
The aim of the HSF is to protect and promote liberal constitutional democracy and upholding the Rule of Law in South Africa. The HSF’s current activities consist mainly of the following: public interest litigation in areas where government institutions or officials are in breach of their obligations or where the rule of law needs to be supported; and research on topical social, economic and legal issues.
For more information refer to https://hsf.org.za/.
Judges Matter Campaign of UCT’s Democratic Governance and Rights Unit
The Democratic Governance and Rights Unit (“DGRU”) is the applied research unit within the Public Law Department in the Law Faculty at the University of Cape Town, with the objective to support judicial governance. The Judges Matter project of the DGRU focus on the importance of the role of the judiciary in South Africa’s constitutional democracy, and aims to engage with the judicial appointment process, in order to try and ensure the appointment of the best judges possible. Judges Matter’s focus has recently expanded to include research and advocacy on magistracy as well as conduct issues and governance of the judiciary.
For more information refer to https://www.judgesmatter.co.za/.
Land and Accountability Research Centre (UCT)
LARC is based in the University of Cape Town’s Faculty of Law. LARC forms part of a collaborative network, constituted as the Alliance for Rural Democracy, which provides strategic support to struggles for the recognition and protection of rights and living customary law in the former homeland areas of South Africa. LARC is particularly interested by the ways in which laws and policies frame power relations within these areas and threaten ongoing initiatives for democratic change and accountability at the local level.
For more information refer to http://www.larc.uct.ac.za/.
Legal Resources Centre
LRC aims to undertake evidence-informed action focused on advancing the transformation of South Africa as a democratic society, using the law as an instrument to remove persistent and pervasive structural obstacles to human rights, with a targeted focus on land and education rights.
For more information refer to https://lrc.org.za/.
My Vote Counts
The aim of My Vote Counts is to improve the accountability, transparency and inclusiveness of elections and politics in the Republic of South Africa. My Vote Counts focuses on (a) producing popular education material to allow for a clearer understanding of South Africa’s political and electoral systems (b) conducting research that helps to inform MVC’s advocacy and popular education activities, providing an understanding of political and electoral issues and providing policy alternatives for the South African political and electoral systems based on the changing economic and socio-political context (c) initiating litigation, as a last resort, in order to ensure that the constitutional principles of transparency, inclusiveness and accountability remain the basis of our political and electoral systems.
For more information refer to https://www.myvotecounts.org.za/.
Scalabrini Centre
The Scalabrini centre’s vision is to foster the cultural, social and economic integration of migrants, refugees and South Africans into local society. Perceiving migration as an opportunity, the Scalabrini Centre is committed to alleviating poverty and promoting development while fostering integration between migrants, refugees and South Africans. In providing our assistance, they advocate respect for human rights and use a holistic approach that considers all basic needs.
For more information refer to https://www.scalabrini.org.za/.