All news items
23 March 2012
The 21st day of March is officially Human Rights Day in South Africa. Others call it Sharpeville Day. It is not without reason that many prefer the day to be remembered as Sharpeville Day. The very mention of Sharpeville Day triggers a powerful memory. A reminder. An epic moment in African resistance and human rights history. Of sacrifice, struggle and vision. Of suffering, pain and...
22 March 2012
The Tshwane Metro Council and the police are facing a R30.8 million damages claim relating to the eviction of Schubart Park flats residents in November. Lawyers acting for the evicted families have issued the council a letter of demand in which they are claiming R100 000 each on behalf of 308 clients.
The amount of damages could increase, as it was made clear in the letter this week that the...
22 March 2012
“I only have a face, I have no identity or nationality. I have no idea what to call myself. I just want to belong somewhere.”
This is the plight of a 20-year-old man, identified only as Adelin, who is a stateless person trying to make a living to support himself. But this is impossible, as no country recognises him as a citizen.
Adelin was born on February 14, 1992, in a refugee camp...
22 March 2012
Mary Chombo was born in SA to a South African-born mother and a Malawian father. But as her birth was never registered in this country and she left for Malawi with her parents when she was little, she is now persona non grata in SA.
She moved back here with her four children after her husband died, but her efforts to be recognised as South African have fallen on deaf ears.
“Home Affairs...
22 March 2012
“I only have a face, I have no identity or nationality. I have no idea what to call myself. I just want to belong somewhere.”
This is the plight of a 20-year-old man, identified only as Adelin, who is a stateless person trying to make a living to support himself. But this is impossible, as no country recognises him as a citizen.
Adelin was born on February 14, 1992, in a refugee camp...
22 March 2012
The country marked Human Rights Day yesterday, but for some people who are stateless in SA there was little to celebrate.
These people who are not recognised as a national by any state are invisible. They do not exist before the State.
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) started a Statelessness Project last March, devoted to providing legal assistance to people who are not recognised as a national in...
13 March 2012
Seepage from mines has poisoned the town’s water and government estimates it will cost R200m to fix, writes Sue Blaine
WHEN Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa meets Power Mndebele, a South African Communist Party organiser in Carolina, she meets a young man who is shaking with anger. About 17000 people live in the mining and farming community of Carolina,...
12 March 2012
Foreigners who own spaza shops and other businesses may soon be subject to by-laws that could be stricter than their South African counterparts, according to a report on Saturday. In the African National Congress's peace and stability policy discussion document, the ruling party proposes that non-South Africans should not run spaza shops without adhering to certain legislated...
12 March 2012
In a policy discussion document the ANC has proposed tighter management of immigration. The ruling party proposes a clampdown on informal businesses owned by refugees and asylum seekers, in particular those that contravene municipal by-laws.
An ANC policy document proposing new measures to manage asylum seekers has sparked an outcry from human rights bodies and migrant communities who...
12 March 2012
GE.11- 17506
Human Rights Council
Nineteenth session
Agenda item 3
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation
of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya
Summary
The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret...