Johannesburg - Music, arts, poetry, film, and human rights will once again collide at Constitution Hill with a stellar line-up of events set to celebrate Human Rights Month following the return of the 5th edition of the Human Rights Festival on March 25th and 26th, 2023.
For this festival event, Constitution Hill CEO Dawn Robertson has promised to cater to the wide-ranging tastes of festival goers, who will enjoy two jam-packed days of conversations, exhibitions, art, film, and live performances by Msaki, BCUC, and many other top artists.
"This 5th edition of the Constitution Hill Human Rights Festival takes place at a time when our country is in crisis and our Constitutional vision of social justice and human rights is being stretched to breaking point. For this reason, the theme of the festival is Seize the Power! Seize your power!" Robertson says.
Robertson adds that each year the festival brings together NGOs, social justice organisations, think tanks, media partners, and the public around human rights issues.
Besides an array of offerings, the festival also ensures that skills transfer and development take place alongside a day dedicated to skills building for social justice organisations, with two of these days being open to the public and offering a market, food stalls, exhibitions, art, showcases, poetry, theatre, film, live performances, and a children’s program.
Some pre-festival events include a virtual live-stream dialogue on March 21st at 6:30 pm, called We, the People in Conversation, featuring former Public Protector, Adv Thuli Madonsela, reigning Miss SA, Ndavi Nokeri, and many others.
"Our Constitution foregrounds the collective, the 'we', in its opening words in recognition that without the people acting in solidarity, the end of apartheid and the advent of our constitutional democracy would not have been possible. It is also true that the vision set out in our Constitution for South Africa will remain unrealised if we, the people, do not collectively seize our power once again towards making the Constitution real," Robertson adds.
According to Abigail Noko, Regional Representative of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, this year’s instalment of the human rights festival coincides with the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
"The debates, workshops, and seminars at the festival are all pointing us towards human rights as a catalyst for workable and sustainable solutions for the challenges we face," Noko said.
The Star