About Projects Abroad Human Rights Office

The Projects Abroad Human Rights Office funded by Projects Abroad and registered in South Africa as a Section 21 Non-Profit-Organisation (NPO), under registration Number 2007/012740/08.

The Projects Abroad Human Rights Office is divided into two main departments, namely the Social Justice Department and the Legal Services Department.

Social Justice Department

Work in the Social Justice Department is grass roots based; meaning the volunteers will have first-hand experience of working with various human rights organisations in the backdrop of different cultural and societal settings. People are educated on their rights and our volunteers conduct community related work alongside our partner organisations and governmental bodies.

Legal Services Department

In the Legal Services Department volunteers consult with clients on a daily basis, conduct research for PAHRO as well as Parliament, complete comparative legal studies, issue statements to the media and other NGO’s to influence policy at the local, provincial and national levels.

Our volunteers are placed with the Social Justice Department or the Legal Services Department according to their skills and interests. Even though volunteers are placed in one department, all volunteers will be provided the opportunity to work on projects for the other department. In both departments volunteers are able to work on human rights related issues. Working to promote human rights culture and address human rights issues does not have to entail going to courts of law and argue cases in court. Even though we enable volunteers to visit courts, the Projects Abroad Human Rights Office does not litigate. In terms of intervention, we also act as mediators between parties who are involved in a dispute.

Past experience has taught us that volunteers often find that one month with the Legal Services Department is not long enough to form a proper view of human rights under South African law and they are not able to contribute as much as longer serving volunteers. These volunteers therefore find the experience less gratifying. However, in the Social Justice Department volunteers find it much easier to get their project started; work in this department is therefore much more suitable for those who stay for one month or less.

Mission Statement

With its brutal history of apartheid and colonialism, there can be few places better than South Africa to be a human rights activist. Apartheid ended with the first free elections on 27 April 1994. The onslaught of democracy provided South Africans the first opportunity for political representation and for redress to heal the wounds of maltreatment that many suffered. Unfortunately the reconciliation process did not result in equal social justice to all South Africans and tension remains to this day.

South Africa is a country renowned for its diverse cultural spectrum; but equally so, it is diverse in its economic distribution along racial and ethnic lines. It is a country blighted by vast differentiation between rich and poor resulting in a multitude of social and economic problems. This provides South Africa with high crime rates, prisoner populations and informal settlement populations, as well as poor education and drug problems. Despite a world renowned constitution and South Africa’s accession to international human rights conventions, such problems continue to plague marginalised communities.

Projects Abroad Human Rights Office acknowledges the concerns expressed by the victims, the communities and civil society organisations over gross human rights violations in South Africa and around the world. Projects Abroad Human Rights Office further recognises the necessity for re-building peaceful societies and communities respectful of human rights values, justice and human dignity; and the need promote and protect the human rights of all living in South Africa and other countries on earth.

Therefore, the Projects Abroad Human Rights Office’s mission is:

  • To raise public awareness of human rights issues in South Africa and worldwide.
  • To inform South African society on the legislation and human rights abuses.
  • To monitor the rule of law and human rights in South Africa.
  • To influence and support policy makers and implementation institutions about human rights issues.
  • To actively take part in the global debate around international human rights and justice issues.

To this end, Projects Abroad Human Rights Office in Cape Town organises an intensive internship programme which attracts people from all over the world and from any academic background to build the interns’ capacity in awareness campaigning, monitoring and networking. The interns are then offered the unique opportunity to get involved in different activities for raising awareness of human rights for at-risk groups such as women, children, prisoners, refugees/ asylum seekers, destitute and homeless people, etc.

Staff

Maria Mulindi - Program Manager

Maria is a Luhya from Western Kenya but her family moved to South Africa in 2003. She studied at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University where she obtained her LLB Law degree. She completed her articles of clerkship at Boqwana Loon and Connellan and was admitted as an attorney at the High Court of South Africa. She also has High Court right of Appearance. Before coming to PAHRO she worked in litigation, specializing in motor vehicle accident claims against the Road Accident Fund. She is currently undertaking a Masters in Development Studies.
Maria comes from a long line of lawyers. With her grandfather being a Magistrate in Post Colonial Kenya and her father an advocate of the High Court of Kenya. He also had a brief stint working with the UN in Kosovo. This sparked her interest in humanitarian law and Human rights and she jumped at the opportunity to work with PAHRO stating that it was ‘what she has wanted to do for a very long time.’

Sanjay Hora: Legal Services Coordinator

Sanjay is a UK qualified Human Rights Solicitor. He graduated from Bristol University in 1996 and worked at the Commission for Racial Equality where he was one of the legal team on The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry. He was Articled to a leading Civil Liberties and Human Rights firm J R Jones in London, where his career in Human Rights began. He was Admitted to the Roll in 2001. Since this time he has worked in the areas of Criminal Defence, Civil Liberty/Human Rights cases, Inquests into deaths in Police Custody and Prison Law and later specialised in White collar crime and fraud. He came to Projects Abroad in February 2011 and deals with the Human Rights Commission referrals with Maria as well as Refugee and other matters. He brings a wealth of broad range experience to the office.

Gemma Hancox - Volunteer Supervisor and Personal Assistant

Gemma graduated in 2009 with a Batchelor of Laws honors degree from the University of the West of England, UK. After gaining her degree she volunteered with the Projects Abroad Human Rights Office for 2 months in 2010 before becoming a staff member in May 2010.

Contact us

Projects Abroad Human Rights Office
26 Main Road
Rondebosch
Cape Town
7700
South Africa

Tel: +27 (21) 685 1998
E-mail: humanrights@projects-abroad.org.za

Country Profile ...

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF SOUTH AFRICA

Creation of Apartheid

The French Political philosopher, Jean Jacques Rousseau said that "Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains". This phrase ringed very true for the people, who by social construct, were considered to be sub-human or as Hitler would describe them as ‘untermenschen’. This was not of their accord but rather, a system which was forced upon them. ‘Apartheid’ is the term used to describe the racial segregation in South Africa – the notion of a superior race. Many human rights became privileges under the National Party government – voting; equal access to buses and trains; theatres and the list continues.


Acts

The Immorality Act meant that mixed marriages were forbidden. For this reason, many South Africans fled abroad and to this day, have settled in countries such as Australia and Canada.In 1950 the act was followed up with a ban on sexual relations between white and black. One of the first people convicted of the immorality act was a Cape Dutch reformed minister; he was caught having sex with a domestic worker in his garage. He was given a suspended sentence and the parishioners bulldozed the garage to the ground.

Race, which is essentially classified according to physical appearance, was codified in terms of the Population Registration Act. A well-known method by which your race was determined, was the so-called ‘pencil in the hair test’ – if the pencil, after being pulled through your hair fell, then you would be classified as ‘white’ but if it did not fall out, it meant that you were ‘coloured’. This caused a lot of controversy and in many instances, erroneous conclusions – families were separated. Apartheid was not merely a social construct but also caused lasting emotional and personal turmoil. Today, many people have problems regarding their identity.


Bantu Education System

The Apartheid regime struck at the core of man’s integrity when it introduced legislation controlling the education system in the country. The introduction of the Bantu Education System meant that black scholars were not allowed to receive instruction in their mother tongue regarding practical subjects. This would intentionally place them at a disadvantage once schooling is completed. This had the effect of black people only being qualified in the unskilled market. The compromise that was made so many years ago is evident in our societies today. "… no other social institution reflected the government's racial philosophy of apartheid more clearly than the education system," but also that the "backlog of deficiencies in the school system [will] challenge future governments for decades, or perhaps generations."


Places of cultural and historical interest in Cape Town

Iziko Museum
The aim of the establishment of Iziko museums is to celebrate the diversity of Africa.


Robben Island
Robben Island is world renowned as the place where former President Nelson Mandela was exiled to. However, this place was used as a prison as early as the mid 1600’s. Today, the Robben Island Museum provides an array of services to the public.


District 6 Museum
The District museum takes you on a walk back into the 1960’s when so-called ‘black’ and ‘coloured’ communities were forcibly removed from the Cape’s sixth district under the Group Areas Act of 1950. Today, land restitution is underway but it will take some time before the dignity of the families will be restored.

Bo-Kaap Museum
The Bo-Kaap Museum is representative of the Islamic community. “Colourful houses, steep cobbled streets, the muezzin’s calls to prayer, and children traditionally dressed for Madrassa, add to this unique Cape experience.”


Castle of Good Hope
‘The Castle’ is the oldest building in South Africa – over 300 years old. It was formally used for trade and military purposes.


Further websites: http://www.places.co.za/html/historical_sites_western_cape.html