All Press Releases
21 June 2011
In advance of the African Union (AU) summit which will take place from 23 June-1 July 2011, more than 115 civil society organisations wrote a short paper with observations and recommendations for African states parties of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on issues likely to arise at the summit regarding the ICC. This paper emphasizes the strong support for the ICC by African...
15 June 2011
The Southern African Litigation Centre together with the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa have launched legal action seeking the cancellation of former Rwandan general and suspected war criminal Faustin Kayumbe Nyamwasa’s refugee status in South Africa – arguing that the decision violates South African and international law and increases the likelihood of South...
3 June 2011
Human Rights Watch Press Release: Extend Moratorium on Deporting Zimbabweans
(Johannesburg, June 3, 2011) – The South African government should quickly open a new refugee reception center in Johannesburg, Human Rights Watch said today. The closing of the existing center on June 1, 2011, will make it even harder for asylum seekers to lodge claims in the country’s chronically...
1 June 2011
Lawyers for Human Rights notes its dismay at the closure of the only refugee reception office in Johannesburg at Crown Mines. The closure of this office is due to a court order requiring its closure after the surrounding businesses in the area approached the court to seek the closure of the office. It appears that this order was granted on the grounds that DHA used the building without...
22 May 2011
The South Gauteng High Court will hear submissions from Lawyers for Human Rights over the next two days (23 and 24 May 2011) in the cases of Tsebe v Minister of Home Affairs and others and Phale v Minister of Home Affairs and Others regarding the lawfulness of an extradition to a country which still practices the death penalty, in this case Botswana.
In both of these cases, the...
13 May 2011
Terrified foreign traders in several locations around Gauteng are closing their shops and businesses in the wake of the threats issued to them by the Greater Gauteng Business Forum. There are at least nine affected areas which include, Freedom Park, Ramaphosa, Kagiso, Ratanda, Motsoaledi, Katlehong, Diepsloot, Tembisa, and Orlando East. In the last few weeks, a group of local business...
12 April 2011
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) wishes to add its voice to the growing calls for an end to rampant political oppression and violence in Swaziland. The events of today which has seen the mass arrests of hundreds of protesters and the detention of journalists have brought the political crisis in Swaziland into light.
Mass action has long been a tradition in Southern Africa against...
30 March 2011
The North Gauteng High Court has issued an interim order today returning two children to their father pending the outcome of a final decision on the matter. The children had been removed from their father’s custody and care by the police because he had not yet paid lobola to his deceased life partner’s family.
LHR is encouraged by the court’s decision as...
24 March 2011
The Department of Home Affairs has begun implementing one of the most controversial elements of the Immigration Amendment Bill—the use of pre-screening procedures for asylum seekers at the border. While members of the Department have issued conflicting statements over what this provision will mean in practice, the Minister has stated that asylum seekers will be subject to the ‘first...
17 March 2011
South Africa commits to take “a leading role” on a “broad vision to take the issue of sexual orientation forward” within the African Group at the United Nations
The South African delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Council publicly affirmed its support for ending violence against people based on sexual orientation and gender identity. This statement issued...