All Press Releases
23 March 2015
The auction planned for the sale of Woodlane Village, also known as Plastic View, in Pretoria has been halted after Lawyers for Human Rights, on behalf of residents, successfully obtained an urgent high court order against the Tshwane municipality.
The land is part of nearly 80 properties meant to go on auction tomorrow (24 March). Over 3 000 people have been living on the land for more than 12...
20 March 2015
It is with deep regret that Lawyers for Human Rights in South Africa and Swaziland have heard reports of human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko’s placement into solitary confinement while at Big Bend Prison in Swaziland.
Maseko was put into solitary confinement yesterday (19 March) for having written a letter to friends and colleagues that was subsequently made public, thanking them for their...
19 March 2015
In commemoration of Human Rights Day, Lawyers for Human Rights is hosting a cafe discussion on recent trends of using criminal law to target the poor. Discussions will examine the policies and decisions that exclude marginalised communities and limit their access to public space and services. Increasingly, authorities treat informal traders, beggars and the homeless as a threat to public safety....
18 March 2015
The Angolan authorities must immediately and unconditionally release two human rights defenders who were detained solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in the country’s Cabinda region, five organizations including Amnesty International said today.
Jose Marcos Mavungo was arrested on 14 March 2015 – the day of the planned protest - and...
17 March 2015
The online application for ZSPs closed on 31 December 2014. The process of booking online will close on 30 April 2015. DHA has anticipated that the project to adjudicate and issue these permits will close in July 2015.
13 March 2015
In a landmark victory for rural occupiers, the City of Tshwane has taken a decision to expropriate land being used for the Kanana Village in Pretoria.
The decision means that roughly 500 households living on the farm will not be evicted and will eventually obtain tenure security for the houses they have lived in for more than 10 years.
The Kanana Village was formed when evicted farm workers...
12 March 2015
Lawyers for Human Rights appeared in the North Gauteng High Court on Wednesday on behalf of a number of separated minors to deal with access to education and documentation for this vulnerable group.
An interim order was granted in 2013 guaranteeing asylum seeker and refugee children access to education. The second part of the case was aimed at developing a path to documentation by recognising...
5 March 2015
The North Gauteng High Court has dismissed a rescission application brought by the Tshwane University of Technology against a contempt order obtained by Lawyers for Human Rights in 2014.
LHR is acting on behalf of evicted students.
LHR launched the contempt application after TUT failed to comply with an urgent order to allow students back into residences from which they had been unlawfully...
1 March 2015
“There are Mozambicans overseas who say ‘I have a business here but I want to invest in my home country, I want to come back to my home country’. Our goal is to find a way to help them do this.”
These are the words of Armando Chissaque, Deputy Director of the National Institute for Mozambican Communities Abroad (INACE) – an arm of Mozambique’s Ministry of...
27 February 2015
Human rights groups and organisations affirmed their commitment to advocating for human rights and constitutional compliance within the criminal justice sector in South Africa.
The Detention Justice Forum (DJF) comprises of civil society organisations concerned with the rights of detainees. It was established in March 2012 with the aim of ensuring that the rights and well-being of those who are...