From the 9 - 13 October 2023, the UCT Law Refugee Rights Unit in partnership with UNHCR hosted a virtual training for practitioners, civil society and government officials on eradicating statelessness in Africa. The training program was hosted by UCT Law's Professor Fatima Khan (Director of the RRU) and Ms Emmanuelle Mitte (UNHCR Regional Bureau). This key training initiative on Ending Statelessness was started five years ago (2019) at the RRU with Ms Emmanuelle Mitte.

Said Professor Khan: 

We are happy to have witnessed the growing interest in this topic and in our training course - especially since the current context of statelessness, and the situation of the stateless, remains dire.

Our 2023 training had over 50 participants from 12 countries across the continent, in all regions from Southern Africa up to the Horn of Africa. Participants, taught by leading experts in the field, were exposed to the various factors and causes of statelessness. This year's programme experts included colleagues in academia, from UNHCR, and from Institute for Security Studies (ISS) among others, speaking on topics from the impact of climate change on statelessness to childhood statelessness and children's rights.