Makerere University (Mak)‘s strategic direction is to become a research-led institution leading to innovations, knowledge transfer partnerships and providing solutions to national challenges. In line with the strategic direction, on 10^th December 2024, Mak and Uganda Prison Services (UPS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that paves way for the Makerere University School of Law to undertake short trainings in administrative law for UPS staff.

At the signing ceremony held at the UPS headquarters in Kampala, Uganda, Professor Barnabas Nawangwe, Vice Chancellor – Mak and Dr. Johnson Byamugisha, Commissioner General for UPS signed for their institutions. In attendance were senior officers from UPS and staff of SoL, Dr. Zahara Nampewo – Deputy Principal, and Dr. Patricia Atim, Coordinator of the Administrative Law short course.

The collaboration arising from the MoU aims to equip UPS officers with knowledge and skills in administrative law, improving their legal understanding and service delivery within the institution. The partnership involves training 60 UPS officers annually in the SoL Administrative Law Short Course Programme

Expressing pride in Mak and the School of Law, Professor Nawangwe thanked Dr. Byamugisha and the UPS for giving the university an opportunity to contribute to the professionalization of the prisons service. He emphasized the importance of strengthening the legal framework and ensuring the effectiveness of law enforcement personnel.

The partnership marks a significant step in enhancing the capacity of Uganda’s correctional facilities, ensuring that officers are better equipped to carry out their duties in accordance with the law.

On 5^th November 2024, Law School Deans, Academicians, researchers and students from Africa and China met at School of Law (SoL), Makerere University in Kampala Uganda for the 6^th China-Africa Forum for Law School Deans. The Forum themed, ‘Legal Guarantee and Educational Support for High-Quality Development of China-Africa’ was hosted by SoL in partnership with Renmin University of China and Xiangtan University, China.

This forum was proposed at the 8^th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in 2021 in Dakar, Senegal, The resultant Dakar Action Plan (2022-2024) explicitly proposed to support holding the China-Africa Forum of Law School Deans to among other things: encourage and assist China-Africa Universities in jointly building China-Africa legal research centres; training of legal professionals; and promoting China-Africa exchanges and cooperation for legal knowledge and legal talents.

In his remarks, Dr. Ronald Naluwairo – Associate Professor and Principal, SoL welcomed participants to SoL, Makerere University and Uganda. ‘SoL opened its doors in 1968 and has grown into one of the greatest schools of law in Africa and enjoys global recognition for its work’, he said. He thanked Xiangtan University, China with who Makerere has a memorandum of understanding for the collaboration that started in 2014 and introducing the other partners present. He expressed hope that at the end of the meeting, tangible areas of collaboration supporting social justice will be defined for the partners; and a compilation of a report of the papers presented for knowledge transfer and policy development.

Professor Henry Alinaitwe – Deputy Vice Chancellor/Finance & Administration, Makerere University represented the Vice Chancellor, Professor Barnabas Nawangwe. He welcomed participants and encouraged them to tour Uganda, Pearl of Africa before departure for an appreciation of Uganda’s beauty. ‘Teaching of the law can contribute to social transformation of our people in Africa and China. This is therefore an important platform for discussion improvements in legal education for both Africa and China’, he said. Professor Alinaitwe thanked the partners for choosing Makerere to host and hoped for productive, enlightening deliberations during the forum which will lead to enhancement of the collaboration.

The forum was officially opened by His Excellency, Ambassador Zhang Lizhong – Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Uganda. Ambassador Lizhong expressed pleasure at seeing the participants from China and Africa in the room to support the China-Africa collaborations which have built synergy with multiple plans and strategies. He explained that in Uganda alone, China continues to export promotion, infrastructure development (roads, dams, and airport) among others. He noted that there has been an increase of people exchange between China and Africa and it is therefore important that the nations understand better the legal setups for better collaboration and development mutually beneficial to all. ‘I thank Makerere for the support of the collaboration and I hope to see development of legal research centres as outlined in the Accra Action Plan’ the ambassador noted.

Presentations by participants through the day culminated into proposal of the following as key issues for further consideration and development:

1. Recognition that legal education and legal exchanges are essential foundations of friendly cooperation between China and Africa and the China-Africa Forum of Law School Deans is an effective platform to promote the cooperation. The Forum will therefore be held regularly.
2. Expand the scope, enhance effectiveness and impact of the Forum.
3. Establish exchange mechanisms to promote cooperation, including joint international conferences and co-publish academic journals.
4. Encourage law teachers’ research cooperation among faculty to improve research quality and facilitate mutual visits.
5. Promote friendly exchanges among young legal professionals, providing support for their studies and exchanges at partner institutions
6. Collaborate of developing educational programmes, including courses on comparative studies of China-African legal systems.

The East African Journal for Peace and Human Rights (EAJPHR) is an international, peer-reviewed, bi-annual scholarly publication of the Human Rights and Peace Centre (HURIPEC) at the School of Law, Makerere University. The Journal has since its inception in 1993 remained at the forefront of igniting intellectual and policy debates on contemporary governance and human rights issues in the East African region and beyond. It seeks to provide a platform to scholars, researchers and practitioners in the fields of governance and human rights to disseminate cutting-edge research and share knowledge and experiences.

This call invites students, scholars, researchers, and development practitioners to submit papers for our forthcoming Issue. The papers should highlight recent trends, practices and emerging issues impacting on governance, constitutionalism, human rights and fundamental freedoms, with a view to produce a critical assessment of the same within the region and beyond.

Interested authors should submit their papers electronically to: journal.huripec@mak.ac.ug.

Important Dates:

Submission deadline: 6^th September 2024
Notification of the reviewers’ decision: 20^th September 2024

Submission Guidelines:

The papers should be submitted as word document, along with abstracts not exceeding 150 words and information pertaining to the author(s) (i.e., name of author, qualifications, profession, workplace/institution of placement, and contact email).

Submissions should be original contributions in the form of articles, comments, case notes, book reviews – all related to important developments on a wide range of issues relating to law, human rights, peace and conflict, and governance.

Articles should be an average length of 10,000 words (i.e., 20 pages). Comments and case notes should normally be shorter, between 4,000 and 6,000 words (i.e., 8-12 pages). Book reviews should be even shorter, at no more than 3,000 words (i.e., 6 pages).

Any enquiries about this call should be sent to journal.huripec@mak.ac.ug.