Mary de Haas is a South African human rights activist, violence monitor, and honorary research fellow at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
De Haas has been researching and documenting political violence in KwaZulu-Natal since the mid-1980s. She has also produced regular summaries of this violence, known as the Natal (now KZN) Monitor.
| Mary de Haas | |
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| Quick Facts | |
| Name: | Mary de Haas |
| Age: | 82 years old |
| Alma mater: | University of KwaZulu-Natal |
| Occupation: | Human rights activist, violence monitor, honorary research |
Education
Mary de Haas holds a Master’s degree in Anthropology from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).
Career
Mary de Haas has been involved with marriage and family therapy (FAMSA in Durban). She has worked as the Principal of a Durban-based children’s home.
She has conducted monitoring activities, which have included interventionist human rights work, directed at improving the criminal justice system.
She has done extensive research into marriage and divorce. She has extended her research to the sale of liquor, religion, traditional leaders, customs and culture, medical ethics, ethnicity, and politics.
The Durban-KwaZulu peace monitor served on the Research Committee on Farm Violence. She was appointed by the national Minister of Safety and Security in the early 2000s. She was a member of the Council of PSIRA from 2005 to 2008.
From 1995 to 2005, funding from Norwegian People’s Aid allowed her to work closely with lawyers on human rights matters. She has also worked with FrontLine Defenders, an international network of human rights defenders, since 2001.
Mary de Haas was a lecturer in the department of Anthropology at the University of Natal (now University of KZN) for twenty years. She taught a variety of courses, including Africa, medical anthropology, and research methodology.
De Haas has also contributed to many interdisciplinary courses at the university, including Women’s Studies. She also provided courses to medical students on medical social science at the then University of Natal Medical School.
For fourteen years, she served on the Biomedical Research Ethics Committee of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She was a member and chairperson of the Bioethics Reference Group at the University from 1994 to 2004.
She retired as a Senior Lecturer and Programme Director in Social Anthropology at the end of 2002.
De Haas is a member of the Navi Pillay Research Group. She is a founding member of the Medical Rights Advocacy Network (MeRAN) and an Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Law, UKZN.
Mary de Haas has also presented many conference papers at national and international conferences. She has also published academic and popular media articles on violence and human rights, as well as marriage, family, and bride wealth.
Rhodes University conferred Mary De Haas with a degree of Doctor of Laws (LLD) (honoris causa) in recognition of her interventionist work on violence and human rights abuse in KwaZulu-Natal.
Mary has also testified in court cases and commissions as an expert witness.
Personal Life
Mary de Haas lost her husband to a heart attack in early 1994.
References
- “Profile for Ms Mary de Haas“. Rhodes University.
- “De Haas humbled by honourary doctorate for life’s work“. The Witness.
- Anelisa Kubheka. “Violence monitor De Haas to be honoured“. IOL.
