Danwood Chirwa

Dr Danwood Mzikenge Chirwa is currently Head of the Public Law Department at the University of Cape Town (with effect from 1 July 2009). He is also an Associate Professor and a fellow at the University of Cape Town. He teaches administrative law, international protection of human rights, current issues in constitutional law, and children's rights. He has published widely on human rights especially economic and social rights. In January 2007, he was an international visiting scholar at Queens University in Canada, where he taught an intensive course in socio-economic rights. He has also taught as a guest lecturer in the LLM programmes on human rights and democratisation in Venice, the University of the Western Cape, and at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria.   Dr Chirwa was a Director of the Open Democracy and Advice Centre (ODAC, 2006-2009), and Secretary-General of the African Network of Constitutional Lawyers (2007-2008). He is a contributing editor to the South African Journal of Criminal Justice (2006 to date) and an Editor of the ESR Review (since 2002). In 2006, he also served on the Editorial Board of the Acta Juridica. Currently he serves on the Advisory Boards of Constitutional Court Review, and City of Hong Kong University Law Review. He is also the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Malawi Law Journal. For more information on this journal see Malawi Law Journal   Dr Chirwa has worked on various human rights issues in collaboration with such NGOs as Rights and Democracy (Canada), Community Law Centre (South Africa), African Child Policy Forum (Ethiopia), ESCR-Net (USA), Southern African Human Rights Trust (Zimbabwe), and Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (Malawi). Dr Chirwa is an external examiner of a number of universities including City of Hong Kong University, University of Witwatersrand, University of Pretoria, University of Fort Hare, Stellenbosch University, and the University of the Western Cape.   Courses taught * International Protection of Human Rights PBL6031W (postgrad) * International Rights of the Child PBL6028F (postgrad) * Administrative Law PBL4001W (undergrad) * Current Issues in Constitutional Law 5042F (undergrad) Postgraduate supervision LLM and PhD supervision in all areas of human rights especially economic, social and cultural rights, domestic protection and implementation of human rights, children's rights, regional protection of human rights, aspects of the international protection of human rights, national human rights institutions, NGOs, non-state actors, horizontal application of human rights, and privatisation.   Current and planned major projects in the next five years A treatise on the emerging jurisprudence on human rights under the Malawian Constitution.(to be published by Juta & Company in 2010) An edited bo+I16ok with Lia Nijzink on sources of accountability on the African continent, as part of the Delphe project. A project with Lia Nijzink on 'African Constitutionalism: A collaborative research project to develop new knowledge about constitutionalism in Africa' which will result on an edited book on the subject. An edited volume with Malcolm Langford (Norwegian Centre of Human Rights) on litigating socio-economic rights on the African continent.   Select publications 'The African regional system: The promise of recent jurisprudence on social rights' in M Langford (ed) Socio-economic rights jurisprudence: Emerging trends in comparative and international law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007, forthcoming). 'The horizontal application of constitutional rights in a comparative perspective', (2006) 10(2) Law, Democracy and Development 21-48. 'Reclaiming (wo)manity: The merits and demerits of the African Protocol on Women's Rights', (2006) LIII Netherlands International Law Review 63-96. 'The long march to binding obligations of transnational corporations in international human rights law', (2006) 22(1) South African Journal on Human Rights 76-98. 'A full loaf is better than half: The constitutional protection of economic, social and cultural rights in Malawi', 49(2) (2005) Journal of African Law 207-241. 'Towards enhanced citizenship and poverty eradication: A critique of Grootboom from a gender perspective' (with Sibonile Khoza) in A Gouws (ed), Women and citizenship in South Africa (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005) 137-156. 'The doctrine of state responsibility as a potential means of making private actors accountable for human rights' (2004) 5(1) Melbourne Journal of International Law 1-36. 'The implications of recent jurisprudence on penalties in international criminal law for penal regimes in post independent Africa' (2004) 17(2) South African Journal of Criminal Justice 193-219. 'Privatisation of water in Southern Africa: A human rights perspective' (2004) 4(2) African Human Rights Law Journal 218-241. 'Water privatisation and socio-economic rights in South Africa', (2004) 8(2) Law, Democracy and Development 181-206. 'Obligations of non-state actors in relation to socio-economic rights: The South African Constitution' (2003) 7(1) Mediterranean Journal of Human Rights 29-68. 'Democratisation in Malawi 1994-2002: Completing the vicious circle?' (2003) 19 (2) South African Journal on Human Rights 316-338. 'The right of access to essential medicine in international law: Its implications for the obligations of states and non-state actors' (2003) 19(4) South African Journal on Human Rights 541-566. 'The merits and demerits of the African Charter on the rights and welfare of the Child' (2002) 10 The International Journal of Children's Rights 157-177.