Activities with the National University of Rwanda(NUR)
The cooperation with the NUR is now centred on the development of legal skills. With this overall objective in mind, DIHR supports various activities, including a legal aid clinic, publication of a law journal and course papers, participation in regional moot court competitions, a law students group, and continued education to the academic staff, as well as administrative support.
As part of the third year curriculum, students are obliged to follow a practical class where they provide legal advice and assistance under the supervision of two members of the academic staff.
The legal aid clinic provides free advice to indigents and on occasion pays for legal representation. In another supported activity, the clinic also arranges for students to provide information at schools and in the countryside in the vicinity of Butare. The focus of this activity is prevention of sexual violence against minors through awareness raising.
Earlier phases of cooperation with the NUR were focused on the rebuilding of the university’s legal teaching capacity. DIHR supported inter alia, recruitment and payment of long term and short term visiting lecturers, education of staff and acquisitions for the law library.
With DIHR support, the NUR was one of the founding institutions of HAKI-AFRIKA, the East African University network in December 2002. The Haki Afrika association was established in recognition of the need to work together in addressing common problems in the teaching of human rights in universities in the East Africa and Great Lakes Region.