Human Rights Live

Episode thirteen deals with basic education as a fundamental human right. It is protected in international, regional and domestic law. Section 29 of the Bill of Rights in South Africa’s Constitution says that “everyone has the right to a basic education, including adult basic education”. However, many children face challenges when exercising this right. More needs to be done to increase awareness...

Episode twelve is a little different to previous podcasts. We took this opportunity to review and celebrate the first 25 years of Human Rights Media Centre.  On the 15th of November HRMC celebrated it's silver jubilee celebration at Community House join us as we share some excerpts from the event and an interview with Founder and Director Shirley Gunn by Haroon Gunn Salie in December 2025. Photogr...

Episode Eleven delves into the challenges faced by refugees and asylum seekers in exercising the right to work. The right to work is entrenched in international human rights law. First introduced in the 1945 Charter of the United Nations, the right to work is recognised in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Re...

Episode ten focuses on the white paper on Immigration, Citizenship and Refugee Protection. This policy document, made public over a year ago, proposes major changes in the South African migration system that have far reaching consequences. As people wait for the new legislation, there is mounting xenophobia in some communities. One of the unfavourable consequences is what is currently happening in...

Episode nine unpacks the endless delays causing fear and uncertainty experienced by asylum seekers stuck in the appeals’ process. We speak to three asylum seekers, review Human Rights Media Centre’s 2018 qualitative research that focused on the plight of fourteen Rwandan asylum seekers, who were and are, seven years later, still stuck in the Department of Home Affairs’ appeals system.  Justice del...

Episode eight focuses on the Department of Home Affair’s assertion that refugees are a burden to South Africa. This is despite their small numbers, and the evidence showing that refugees and asylum seekers often make a positive contribution to the economy. We can no longer accept the rhetoric that refugees are the problem: they are definitely part of the solution in addressing unemployment and pov...

Episode seven focuses again on the White Paper circulated by the Department of Home Affairs. Many civil society organisations, including the Human Rights Media Centre, take strong issue with its intention. We consider it an outrage against the rights and human dignity of those who are forced to flee their homes. We aim to make this legal information accessible because the White Paper must be under...

Episode six focuses on how the Human Rights Media Centre has, along with civil society, taken a stand against the Department of Home Affairs’ White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration & Refugee Protection. We ask you to stand with us against this unacceptable proposal and to support refugees whose lives have been torn apart by conflict and discrimination, to build their futures as South Africans...

Episode five focuses on Umoja Wamama Crafters Co-Operative, a women’s collective allied to the Human Rights Media Centre. Most of the members are from the refugee community; some are South African veterans. Umoja Wamama will soon celebrate its tenth anniversary and may be of interest to you in that it presents a different economic model, where every member is both contributor and beneficiary. But...

Episode Four explores the experiences of three young people, born and raised in South Africa of refugee parents, and their journey toward accessing their right to belong. In South Africa, the Bill of Rights and the Children’s Act explicitly recognises that every child has the right to nationality from birth. We urge you to know your rights, claim your rights, and defend your rights!

Episode Three centres around the struggles of women refugees. We explore how refugee women’s organising has made a difference! Under the new regulation, refugees and asylum seekers can get their own files, if the primary applicant has gone or passed on.  We urge both men and women to listen to this podcast and share it widely with your networks!   

Episode Two explores naturalisation as one of three durable solutions to end refugee-hood. Join your host Epiphanie Mukasano this World Refugee Month as she discusses issues surrounding Refugee status as temporary.  Naturalisation is the long-term integration of refugees in the host or resettled country. Listen in to hear how South Africa is faring.

Episode One concerns the rights of asylum seekers and refugees living in Cape Town because documentation services were closed here by the Department of Home Affairs in 2012. Join Epiphanie Mukasano as she delves into conversations around the delays and the opening of the new Refugee Reception Office, in April 2023 in Epping Cape Town, offering new hope for asylum seekers and refugees.

This podcast produced by the Human Rights Media Centre to commemorate World Refugee Day 2022, considers the ‘Right to Asylum’  and its implementation in South Africa. Representatives from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the South African Human Rights Commission, and two asylum seekers share their perspectives.