Human Rights Live

Episode Thirteen: ALL children MUST receive education

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 and advocacy, to realise children's rights to education. The Department of Home Affairs must play its part and speed up the documentation process because  not doing so destroys the dreams of refugee children and hope for a better life.

Episode Twelve: Twenty Five Years, One Legacy

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.  [https://hrmc.org.za/] 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. Photographs by Lily van Rensburg.

Episode Eleven: The Right to Work: Challenges and Solutions

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 Refugees Act of 1998 provides refugees with the right to seek employment. This is consistent with the non-encampment policy that South Africa adopted, that aims to integrate refugees in communities and the economy.  In this episode, we focus on the on two main challengesthat refugees and asylum seekers face in exercising this right, namely the high unemployment rate in South Africa, and a difficult access to documentation. We reflect on some solutions, and advocate for a review of the current exclusionary and restrictive policies, and for a supportive environment oriented to job creation. And that women need additional support.

Episode Ten: Humanity Transcends Nationality

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 state hospitals, as heard in this YouTube clip (August 2025) where Patriotic Alliance  protesters were denying access to healthcare services for foreign nationals.  “We are kindly asking… if you know you are not a South African citizen, may you please get up and leave our hospital. If you know that you are not a South African citizen, may you please stand up and leave our hospital. [Some patients leaving]. Thank you very much, thank you gentleman. If you know you are not a South African citizen, you need to go and seek help from private hospitals, not here anymore. We’re supporting March in March organisation. We have already started here to activate hospitals. And the message is very clear. We don’t want foreign nationals, documents no documents…" It is not too late to speak out! Before it becomes law.

Episode Nine: Endless Wait for Asylum Seekers’ appeals

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 delayed is justice denied for the ‘Rwandan-fourteen’ and more than one hundred thousand other asylum seekers waiting for replies to their appeals. The endless wait has terrible consequences on their lives. oin your host Epiphanie Mukasano to further understand the challenges with the appeals backlog; and progress made thus far, as well as an interview of Bob Beerens, project manager of the backlog project at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Cover photograph provided by GroundUp photographer Joseph Chirume.