UCT Law Faculty was pleased to welcome Dr Mamadou Dian Balde on Thursday 12 March 2026 for a distinguished guest lecture hosted by the Faculty’s Refugee Rights Unit (RRU). Dr Balde, Regional Director for East and Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes (EHAGL), leads the Regional Bureau for Eastern and Southern Africa, which manages operations across 25 countries, including the Kenya & South Africa operation.

Dr Balde’s visit created a valuable opportunity for LLB and LLM students to hear directly from a senior international practitioner working at the forefront of refugee protection in Africa. His lecture, titled Reigniting Multilateralism: Global Refugee Protection in an Era of Fragmentation, addressed the growing pressures facing international refugee systems and the continued importance of cooperation between states, international institutions and civil society in responding to displacement. The lecture formed part of the teaching programme of Professor Fatima Khan, Director of the RRU, whose courses engage students with the legal and practical realities of refugee protection.

Dr Balde brings extensive experience to his role at UNHCR. Over nearly two decades with the organisation, he has served in a range of fields and leadership positions across Africa, Asia and Europe. His work has included assignments in Benin, Liberia, Guinea, Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, Chad, Algeria and Switzerland. Before assuming his current role, he held senior protection and representation positions, including serving as Assistant Representative for Protection in Ethiopia, Acting Representative to the African Union and the Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa, and Deputy Representative in Chad. Dr Balde holds a PhD in International Law from the Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium and has previously lectured in international law and international human rights law at universities in Guinea and South Korea.

In his present capacity as UNHCR Regional Director, Dr Balde oversees the agency’s work across a region that hosts some of the world’s most complex displacement situations. UNHCR’s global mandate is to protect people forced to flee persecution, conflict and violence, to safeguard their rights, and to work with governments and partners to pursue durable solutions such as voluntary repatriation, local integration and resettlement. In South Africa, the organisation plays an important role in supporting national refugee protection systems and promoting the rights and dignity of refugees and asylum seekers.

Within this broader landscape, the partnership between UNHCR and UCT Law’s Refugee Rights Unit has been particularly significant. For many years the Unit has worked closely with UNHCR through a range of collaborative initiatives, including funding support, training programmes and workshops aimed at strengthening refugee protection and legal capacity to support this. The relationship reflects a shared commitment to advancing both practical legal assistance and deeper scholarly engagement with refugee and immigration law. Under the leadership of Professor Fatima Khan, the Refugee Rights Unit occupies a distinctive position within the Faculty of Law. The Unit integrates teaching, research and legal practice, providing direct legal assistance to refugees and asylum seekers while contributing to national and international debates on refugee protection.

Teaching forms a central part of the Unit’s work. Professor Khan offers both undergraduate and postgraduate courses in refugee and immigration law, including final-year LLB electives, such as Refugee and Immigration Law and Public Interest Litigation to final-year LLB students and a postgraduate module called Refugee Law and Human Rights to the LLM/MPhil class. These courses introduce students to the legal frameworks governing asylum, migration governance and refugee protection. These courses also encourage students to engage critically with both the doctrinal foundations of refugee law and the complex realities that shape how protection systems operate in practice. This teaching is supported by extensive research and publication in the field of refugee rights and immigration law. Professor Khan and the Refugee Rights Unit have produced a substantial body of scholarship addressing issues ranging from asylum procedures and migration governance to access to justice for displaced persons. This work continues to inform policy discussions and legal practice both within South Africa and internationally.

Against this backdrop, Dr Balde’s engagement with students was particularly significant. Drawing on his experience in international protection and regional governance, he offered insight into how refugee law functions within global institutions and real-world policy environments. His lecture underscored the importance of bridging academic study and professional practice and highlighted the role that legal scholars and practitioners play in shaping effective refugee protection systems.

For students at UCT Law, the opportunity to engage directly with a senior UNHCR leader ensured the development of a deeper understanding of contemporary refugee challenges, and a broader perspective on the legal, humanitarian and institutional dimensions of refugee protection.