The Constitutional Hill Human Rights Festival is back!

Image supplied: Vusi Mahlasela will perform at the Constitutional Hill Human Rights Festival

The festival is taking place this coming Human Rights weekend from 19 to 21 March 2022. Over three jam-packed days the Hill will come alive with exhibitions; film, poetry, theatre and live performances by Solidarity Express, Ms Party and the legendary Vusi Mahlasela.

This year’s Human Rights Festival coincides with the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution. The Constitution enshrines the rights of all people in South Africa and affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality, and freedom.

Covid-19 has proved to be the great accelerator and exacerbator of long-standing inequalities in our communities. The programme this year will encourage attendees to interrogate their own beliefs and values and to examine what they are doing to help create a “just” society for all that actively foregrounds economic, political, and social human rights.

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Integral to the festival is the Activism Village – a series of exhibitions and stalls that brings social justice organisations together at this significant site to interact directly with citizens. Public debates and dialogues which encourage active engagement will address issues of gender-based violence, racism, migration and refugees, minority discrimination; sustainable development; education and more.

“The festival's mission is to evoke a sense of community that we need to make our nation a better place. It nurtures a culture of human rights activism by engaging, facilitating and catalyzing us to take action. The Human Rights Festival is where we come together to take a stand,” says Dawn Robertson, Constitution Hill CEO.

The Human Rights Festival is an opportunity for all of us to come together and renew our commitment to a just, equal, and non-discriminatory society. “The diverse voices represented through the festival’s numerous platforms are a vibrant reflection of the action we need to realise human rights for all in South Africa. We must support and build a constituency for human rights and each one of us has a role to play,” says Abigail Noko, regional representative of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

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The festival culminates on 21 March which marks the 62nd anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre - our commemorative observance of National Human Rights Day, and the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Constitution Hill will offer free public tours on the 21st acknowledging the immense sacrifices that have been made by countless South Africans in our liberation struggle.

To follow the festival and check out the three-day schedule, go here. To attend in person, register here. On 21 March, you can watch the live stream on Facebook.