Welcome to Refugee Rights

The Refugee Rights Unit is pleased to announce four publications in the latest edition of Refuge, Canada's Journal on Refugees.

On 24 October 2012, the Refugee Rights Unit, in collaboration with the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) and OXFAM, hosted a workshop on Access to Justice and Constitutional Rights for non-nationals.

The Refugee Rights Unit assists a young Somali woman who was forced to flee her country after being threatened by the al-Shabaab militant group for refusing to wear a burqa.

UCT hosted an expert roundtable on the International Protection of Persons Fleeing Armed Conflict and Other Situations of Violence on 13 and 14 September.

For many years, the Refugee Rights Unit has been extremely fortunate to benefit from the assistance of student volunteers, both from South Africa and from further afield. Training students has always been viewed as one of the core components of the Unit.

Cape High Court disturbed by submissions that newly arriving asylum seekers do not have rights

On 9-11 July 2012 the Refugee Rights Unit convened its annual Sustained Advocacy for Empowered Refugees ("SAFER") Course.

The Refugee Rights Project launches the Working Paper Series

Cape High Court hands down judgement in favour of UCT Refugee Rights Project client

On 5-7 September 2011 the Project once again provided a three day course in refugee law and practice, rights assertion and community conflict resolution for refugee and community leaders.

On 18 & 19 July 2011 the Project conducted training workshops with members from the DSD offices and service rendering partners in locations including Vredenberg, Vredenal, Caledon, Paarl, Malmesbury, Wynberg, Bellville, Khayalitsha, Langa, and Cape Town participated.

The Refugee Rights Project celebrates World Refugee Day 2011 with a co-organized Conference hosted at the University on 20 June 2011.

On 13-15 June 2011 the Project once again provided a three day course in refugee law and practice, rights assertion and community conflict resolution for refugee and community leaders.

The Refugee Rights Project recently facilitated an intensive and well recieved training seminar for Magistrates within the Western Cape on Refugee and Immigration law.

Matthew Budow, an intern from the University of Michigan, was asked by the Project to provide a brief opinion on the Nairobi Code and UNHCR Code of Conduct.

On 27 January 2011 Refugee Rights Project members made submissions at Parliament in the public hearings on the new Immigration Amendment Bill (32-2010), held by the National Assembly Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs.

The Refugee Rights Project in UCT's Faculty of Law will upgrade its teaching and research portfolios, thanks to a boost from the Foundation for Human Rights. During 2011 the project will conduct research and produce reports on the access to justice for victims of xenophobia, the right of refugees and asylum seekers to work in South Africa, litigating the rights of refugees in South Africa, and the future management of permanent residence for long-stay refugees.

Polity.org recently conducted an interview with the Project Director on the xeonphobic attacks on foreign migrants in South Africa.

The Refugee Rights Project is pleased to announce that two of its staff members recently published articles in peer reviewed journals.

The Refugee Rights Project is proud to report on a successful 2010 World Refugee Day Conference, which it co-organized and hosted at the Faculty of Law on 18 June 2010.

Fatima Khan, director of the Refugee Rights Project at the UCT Law Clinic, has just returned from Geneva, Switzerland, where she took part in the 2009 High Commissioner's Dialogue on Protection Challenges.

On the web: UCT Law Clinic communication strategist Johannes Sieverding, who created the clinic's new Refugee Rights Project website, with Refugee Rights Project head, Fatima Khan.

The UCT Law Clinic's years-long work with refugees was fitting preparation for Fatima Khan when she attended a meeting called by the African Union's (AU) Division of Humanitarian Affairs, Refugees and Displaced Persons in Africa, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 4 to 6 November.

On Thursday, the 18th of June, Dr. Lawrence Mgbangson from the offices of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees will give an Open Lecture at the Kramer Law School Building.

In remembrance of the victims of the Xenophobic attacks, which swept the country in 2008, the Refugee Rights Project initiated a 'Two minutes of Silence' gathering at the Kramer Law School.

Press Statement

On Friday the 7th of March and Saturday the 8th of March a number of recognised refugees from Somalia, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe were the victims of looting and attacks by local Zwelethemba community residents.

The Refugee Rights Project (RRP) recently joined the newly founded Centre for Legal and Applied Research (CLEAR).