On 14 - 16 July 2014 the Refugee Rights Unit convened it's annual Sustained Advocacy for Empowered Refugees ("SAFER") Course. This three day course in refugee law and practice, rights assertion and community conflict resolution is aimed at empowering refugee community leaders, and South Africans working with refugee communities to better understand and thereafter be in a position to assert the rights that refugees are entitled to – both as refugees specifically and as all persons in South Africa.

The Course equips its participants with specific and practical knowledge about rights in areas in which refugees can learn to help themselves and their community members, and thus acts as a stimulus for refugee leaders and those working in refugee service provider organizations to impart the knowledge that they learn to their community members and use the knowledge in their daily work.

We would like to thank our guest lecturers Sufinnah Singlee from the UCT Labour Law Department, Andre Brink from the South African Social Security Agency, Varni Moodley from the UCT Law Clinic, Mandivavarira Mudarikwa from the Legal Recources Centre, Sanja Bornman from the Women's Legal Centre, Advocate Roseline Nyman, Samatha Harlock from the Cape Town Refugee Centre, representatives from Human Rights Commission, Mncedisi Mbatha from ARESTA, Patrick Kawuma from the UNHCR Field Office, Cape Town and Zoe Rhode from IOM Cape Town.

The Unit was pleased to confer 37 certificates on the participants, representing a diverse array of backgrounds, NGO and Civil Society members.