Call for Submissions for Yunus Mahomed Public Interest Law Awards
Due Date: 12 September 2016.
The Yunus Mahomed award for published articles on Public Interest Law topics strives to encourage students at his alma mater, the University of KwaZulu-Natal, to study and practise law that promotes development and democracy. Agitated by manifest injustices during the apartheid era, Yunus committed his talents as a human rights attorney to combating poverty and discrimination. With other activists he organised and mobilised communities to protest against these injustices. These activities provided the opportunities for public interest litigation. He and his colleagues launched legal challenges against Group Areas segregation, discriminatory systems of levying property rates, and unlawful arrests, detentions and convictions. Public interest litigation was not viewed as an end in itself, but rather formed part of the broader protest movement to achieve democracy. Despite our victory against apartheid in 1994 poor people continue to suffer discrimination based on their socio-economic standing. Public interest litigation remains relevant in order to channel discontent and demands for equality and equitable redistribution of goods and services. It provides an avenue for constructive dialogue between the providers of goods and services, usually an organ of state, and communities, usually poor and peripheral groups. Public Interest Law practitioners facilitate access to justice, and to basic goods and services, in order to animate the rights enshrined in our Bill of Rights. Without them the aspirational objectives of our Constitution will not materialise. Conducting research and publishing articles that promote human rights and legal activism contribute to the ongoing discourse on transformation and development of our society. Yunus recognised the empowering value of communicating without legalese. Hence this award also promotes clear, coherent, simple and concise writing. The award recognises annually the best articles in three categories: Publication in an accredited peer reviewed journal – R5000 Publication in a student peer reviewed journal - R3000 Publication in a newspaper with national circulation – R2000 Contributions may be submitted on advancing the public interest through the use of law, or on any critical legal issues relevant to the public interest. To participate in the award students must submit their published articles to the Yunus Mahomed Public Interest Law Award Committee, care of Ms Caroline Narsiah, PA to the Dean and Head of School of Law, Professor Managay Reddi, on or before 12 September 2016.
