On April 24 in Cape Town, South Africa, Notre Dame Law School and the University of Cape Town (UCT) Faculty of Law signed an official Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreement, marking a new and historic collaboration between the two schools. The MOU will focus on faculty collaboration and research.
G. Marcus Cole, the Joseph A. Matson Dean of Notre Dame Law School, Danwood Chirwa, Dean of the University of Cape Town Faculty of Law, and Jeff Murugan, acting Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, participated in the signing ceremony.
“Aligned with our Catholic mission, Notre Dame Law School is committed to leveraging research to foster positive change globally. This commitment drives us to establish partnerships with leading research institutions worldwide. We have one partner in South Africa, and that is the University of Cape Town Faculty of Law,” said Cole. “We established this relationship because this continent is the future of the world and has the fastest growing population and economy. It is also the place where the Catholic Church is growing the fastest. For us to have a positive impact in the world, we need to partner with the leading research institution in South Africa, and that’s why we’ve established this relationship with the University of Cape Town.”
Last fall, a delegation led by Dean Cole visited South Africa to initiate, collaborate, and build relationships with the intent to establish a future partnership between the Law School and UCT, and this MOU signing is a result of that visit. The trip coincided with the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Notre Dame program in human rights law. Since the program’s inception, more than 500 lawyers from over 100 countries have been educated through the LL.M. Program in International Human Rights Law.
A conference later this week, “Business Human Rights Conference: Business and Human Rights in Africa,” will be the first joint research between the Law School and UCT.
“We are deeply grateful that the University of Cape Town has accepted our partnership. This partnership will allow us to achieve things that we would not be able to do independently. We will now have a place in Africa, a home away from home, where we can send our scholars and our students to engage in research that’s going to make the world a better place,” said Cole.
Other members of the Law School delegation include: Paul Miller, Associate Dean for International and Graduate Programs, Michael Addo, Director, London Law Programme, Christine Venter, director, Legal Writing Program, and Erika George, Professor of Law, University of Utah.
The trip began with a conference led by Addo focusing on a comparative research project on human rights oversight in private detention facilities in the UK and South Africa.
The conference, “Monitoring Privately Run Detention Centres: What We Don’t Know,” brought together partners from the University of Bristol, the African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum (APCOF) in South Africa, the Omega Research Foundation, the National Human Rights Commission, Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services, the Department of Correctional services and the Ombudspersons for Heath and the Military.
The Hon. Nkosi Patekile Holomisa, Deputy Minister of Justice & Correctional Services of the Republic of South Africa, delivered the keynote address.
Addo and the project partners presented the key issues that underlie the research, especially the human rights concerns within private detention settings. Their project seeks to assess the effectiveness of mandated monitors and supervisors in evaluating the human rights performance of these entities and aims to develop mechanisms to enhance oversight and accountability, both nationally and internationally.
This marks Notre Dame Law School’s third partnership agreement this year with international academic universities, further expanding the reach of its Global Lawyering Initiative. Last month, the Law School signed partnership agreements with the University of Lucerne and Paris-Panthéon-Assas University.
