Speaker details

Biography

Hennie van As is a Professor of Public Law and Director of the Centre for Law in Action at the Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. He is an admitted advocate and completed a Diploma in Police Science, the degrees B.Iuris, Bachelor of Laws and Doctor of Laws. He completed post-doctoral studies at the La Salle University in Mexico. He is also responsible for the Refugee Rights Centre. He teaches Constitutional Law and focuses on the drafting, implementation, enforcement and administration of legislation. Within local government, he concentrates on municipal health law, municipal law enforcement, improvement of local governance and council oversight. He has written municipal codes for more than 60 municipalities in South Africa. He also served as an expert member for the World Bank, for the development of local government legislation in East Timor. He established a Fisheries Crime Law Enforcement Academy (FishFORCE) at the university. FishFORCE’s main purpose is to combat sea fisheries crime and related criminal activities. It has started training Fisheries Control Officers (FCOs), police officers and prosecutors in South Africa and it will be doing the same in other countries along the South and East African coastline and along the Indian Ocean Rim.