The awarding of the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to distinguished South African jurist and international judge Navanethem “Navi” Pillay is about more than just the recognition of an exceptional individual in the global fight for justice. It’s clear that the prize also speaks to a bigger context. It comes at a time of pressure on and the questioning of the international legal order. Pillay’s recognition affirms the conviction that international law, however imperfectly applied, remains indispensable to a peaceful world.
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By Dr Olayinka Oluwakemi Adeniyi, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria, and Prof Ebenezer Durojaye, Prof of Human Rights at the Centre for Human Rights.
As the world commemorates World Food Day on 16 October, South Africa must confront a fundamental contradiction. Our Constitution recognises access to sufficient food as a fundamental right, yet millions of people still live in households where access to adequate food cannot be guaranteed. Hunger is therefore not only a problem of poverty, unemployment, food prices or agriculture – it is also a human rights issue.
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Somewhere in Africa, a multinational company is tick-boxing its way through a human rights checklist while a community loses its land anyway.
The company might have a policy. It might have commissioned an impact assessment. The project team probably held consultation meetings, recorded the minutes, and filed the documents. A sophisticated grievance mechanism sits on a project website, but a local villager doesn’t know it exists. On paper, the company has done everything the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights require. People still end up displaced. Livelihoods disappear, and a dispute that the company should have foreseen ends up in a courtroom or on a barricade years later.
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By Dorcas Basimanyane and Lassané Ouedraogo
Fifteen years ago this year, the United Nations Human Rights Council endorsed the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, built on three ideas simple enough to fit on a napkin: states must protect human rights, businesses should respect them, and people harmed by corporate conduct must have somewhere to turn for a remedy. It was, at the level of language, a breakthrough. Before the UNGPs, “corporate responsibility” was merely a slogan; after them, it had a grammar. But read those three pillars again and notice the verb that governs business: should. Not must. The entire framework rests on a request, and a request is exactly what a mining company is free to decline.
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By Dr Olayinka Adeniyi, a legal academic and human rights researcher, and Prof Ebenezer Durojaye, a human rights scholar from the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
Every failed public service generates an invoice. In South Africa, that invoice is often sent to a woman. When childcare is unaffordable, someone must remain at home. When a clinic is inaccessible, someone must care for the sick. When food runs short, someone must decide how to stretch what remains. That person is disproportionately likely to be a woman.
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By Belinda Matore, an LLD candidate and project officer at the Centre for Human Rights in the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria
Childhood is increasingly defined by structure, schedules and achievement. From organised sport and cultural activities to extra lessons and enrichment programmes, many of the experiences intended to support children’s development are becoming ever more demanding. This raises an important question: what happens when activities designed to enrich children’s lives cease to feel voluntary and begin to feel compulsory?
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By Olayinka Adeniyi, an LLD postdoctoral fellow, and Prof Ebenezer Durojaye of the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria
On Youth Day, 16 June, South Africa commemorates the courage of the young people who confronted injustice with extraordinary moral boldness and clarity. It is not merely a public holiday or memorial – it is a national mirror that seeks to assess what kind of society has been built with the freedom for which young people fought, resisted and sacrificed.
The youth of 1976 were changemakers who knew that education was not neutral. They realised that the classroom could reproduce oppression or promote freedom. Their protest against the education system was about more than language – it was about dignity, identity, opportunity and the right to imagine a future beyond the imposed limitations.
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By Tendai Mbanje of the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria
South Africa is at a defining moment, as rising tensions around immigration test the country’s commitment to unity, tolerance and shared prosperity. In recent weeks, the streets of Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria have witnessed regular marches, with citizens voicing frustrations over unemployment, crime and the perceived failures of the immigration system. These protests aren’t mere eruptions of anger but expressions of deep socio-economic distress. For many black South Africans, the struggle is about livelihoods, survival and the daily effort to make ends meet.
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Olayinka Adeniyi LLD Post-doctoral Fellow-Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria. Prof Ebenezer Durojaye, Centre for human Rights, University of Pretoria.
On 5 June 2026, the world will mark World Environment Day. The focus for this year on climate change is urgent as well as timely. Globally and throughout Africa, the climate crisis is not a new scientific prediction or a future policy concern. It is an emerging and present occurrence which is evident in sea level rising, drought, floods, the destruction of crops, recurrent epidemics, the collapse of economy and livelihoods, and the intensifying experience of poverty.
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By Tendai Mbanje, an LLD candidate at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
For millions of South Africans, Freedom Day is not merely a holiday; it is a day of unforgettable memory, a reliving of the hopes and promises of 1994. It is a profound reminder of the sacrifices made to dismantle apartheid – and the triumph of democratic ideals.
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