Advancing Justice Through Community-Engaged Scholarship: The work of the UCT Refugee Rights Unit (UCT RRU) 

As part of its engaged scholarship endeavour the UCT RRU, in collaboration with the Burundian Refugee Community in Cape Town, embarked on an information and training session with refugee women. The training took place at the Parow Public Library on 13 February 2026. The event was attended by approximately 80 women. 

The UCT RRU attorneys (Monique Schoeman, Shazia Sader and Ellie Viljoen) exercised their professional expertise to solve the real-life issues faced by refugee women. 

This workshop specifically focused on GBV issues faced by refugee women and covered documentation issues for refugee woman themselves and their children, access to healthcare, social assistance and education.   

Says Prof Khan:

Our approach is to work with communities rather than just researching on them, and with this approach we aim to drive positive change in the community and at the same time ensure research is contextually relevant. 

We are cognisant of the fact that the refugee community we work with are a vulnerable group of people and we therefore strive for reciprocity in our engaged scholarship projects. The project must mutually benefit the research as well as the community partners. 

The workshop identified an actionable outcome and, in this case, we have identified strategic litigation to be undertaken with regard to a child’s right to an identity.