Dr Sanya Samtani, postdoctoral research fellow with Prof. Dire Tladi, the SARCHI Chair on International and Constitutional Law at the UP Law Faculty, was invited to be a panellist on ETV's The Big Debate. The show, hosted by Redi Tlhabi, aired on 4 December 2021 and centred on the role of intellectual property in impeding the realisation of the rights to education and health.

Dr Samtani explained how South Africa's obsolete and apartheid-era copyright laws acutely limit access to educational materials for poor students as well as people living with disabilities. She explained the constitutional nature of exceptions and limitations to copyright, particularly for marginalised groups. This draws on her ongoing research on access to knowledge in international and domestic law, focusing on the interaction between the intellectual property and trade regime on the one hand and the international human rights regime on the other, as well as the effect of competing State obligations on the domestic realisation of constitutional rights.

On the show, Dr Samtani also discusses the ongoing litigation that has resulted in a High Court judgment declaring the current Copyright Act unconstitutional as it unfairly discriminates against people living with visual and print disabilities.

Click here for the recording