The discourse around human rights often takes place at a level of abstraction that is divorced from the lived reality of many South Africans. Law students are also confronted by the lack of engagement with human rights by legal practice, despite the fundamental human rights guaranteed in the Constitution. These were the main themes which emerged from the human rights panel discussion hosted by the HF Oppenheimer Chair in Human Rights Law and the Law Faculty's Transformation Committee. Titled A Future in Human Rights? students of Stellenbosch University were exposed to panellists who have achieved significant victories for human rights in vastly different areas of the law. However, the common thread which unites these achievements is the positive impact on the lives of ordinary South Africans.

Professor Sandra Liebenberg described the panellists as individuals who have made creative use of the Constitution to advance human rights. For the panellists, a future in human rights for aspiring students means embracing your ideals and being cognisant of the fluid nature of a career in law. “Bring who you are to your job," was one piece of advice offered to students by the panellist Precillar Moyo, an attorney for the Equal Education Law Centre based in Khayelitsha. Being a candidate attorney at a corporate law firm can be a source of invaluable experience, but it does not mean that one is barred from pursuing human rights as a later career path. This was especially the case for panellist Odette Geldenhuys, who pursued various other career paths including documentary film making, before establishing ProBono.org much later in her career. She now works for Webber Wentzel's Pro Bono department where she continues to fight for the advancement of human rights. All the panellists emphasised that litigation should be a last resort, and should form part of a broader campaign of human right advocacy.

The concrete meaning we must ascribe to fundamental rights such as equality and human dignity do not take place in a vacuum. Panellist, Nomzamo Zondo, who is the Director of Litigation at the Socio-Economic Rights Institute (SERI) in Johannesburg, shared her experience of litigating on behalf of evicted persons. For Ms Zondo, equality and human dignity became more than litigation tools when acting on behalf of evicted persons. These rights must reflect the lived reality of those affected and it is the duty of human rights lawyers to engage with peoples and communities to understand how these rights can work for ordinary people according to Ms Zondo. She reminded the audience that, “human rights lawyers account to the people" and that “mobilised communities will change the world". Ms Zondo is also particularly fascinated in the politics of protest, and believes that more can be done in terms of the Regulation of Gatherings Act to ensure that it gives meaningful effect to the constitutional right of demonstration enshrined in section 17 of the Bill of Rights.  She also commented that the police should gravitate from the role of enforces, to facilitators of the right to protest.

The panel also underscored that there is potential in the open-ended nature of human rights to address contemporary and future injustices. Equality and human dignity illuminate all other areas of the law, and should be a basis for any successful human rights lawyer. In this regard, Ms Mudarikwa drew the students' attention to the involvement of the LRC in a complex case where intersex individuals were refused an application to change their sex because their current marriages were heterosexual in terms of the Marriage Act. Ms Mudarikwa emphasised that value-based legal reasoning should play an important part in legal education and the profession.

An interesting debate of the evening revolved around the balance of rights in the Constitution. Specifically, a question was raised about the freedom to religion and same sex marriages. Ms Mudarikwa stated that there is no hierarchy of rights within the Bill of Rights. She emphasised that the law is secular and that these rights do not compete against each other, but must rather be harmonised. This discussion was prompted by the recent decision of Gaum and Others v Van Rensburg and Others where it was ruled that the church cannot discriminate against same-sex couples who wish to marry within the church. Ms Moyo disagreed with Ms Mudarikwa on this matter as she stated that rights do clash and that it is the judiciary who is responsible to balance and limit them. She said that the matter was particularly complicated due to an impossible choice that is given to people: to either choose obeying religious values, or the rights and values in the Constitution. The audience was engrossed in this discussion, which raised important issues regarding how rights should be balanced and reconciled under the Constitution. As with most cases, there is no easy solution and the panel agreed that they would not be surprised if the case was appealed.

The evening ended with further networking and discussion over refreshments. The law students who were in attendance left with many new ideas and changed perceptions about the advancement of human rights. With the timing of the event being two days before National Human Rights' Day, students were given a better understanding of how far we had come in South Africa, as well as what the future of human rights in the country looks like. Most importantly, everyone in attendance was exposed to contemporary human rights problems that ordinary South Africans face and what the role of lawyers can be to advance the equal enjoyment of constitutional rights.

• Photo: Prof Sandra Liebenberg, HF. Oppenheimer Chair in Human Rights Law; Ms Nomzamo Zondo, Socio-Economic Rights Institute of SA; Ms Odette Geldenhuys from Webber Wentzel; Ms Precillar Moyo, Equal Education Law Centre; Ms Mandivavarira Mudarikwa, Legal Resources Centre; and Prof Bradley Slade, Chair of the Law Faculty Transformation Committee.  Photographer: Ms Nondu Phenyane, Faculty of Law.