Programme News
6 May 2015
(Press release)
Swaziland is host to an increasingly repressive political regime and diminishing judicial independence. Oppression, arbitrary arrests, abject poverty and torture/beatings are all commonplace creating a fearful and paranoid environment.
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) and the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) hosted a special seminar examining the situation in light of the arrest of Mario...
6 May 2015
(News)
A Supreme Court of Appeal order that it the Port Elizabeth refugee reception office be reopened by July 1 is incorrect and an unwarranted intrusion into the executive domain, says the Department of Home Affairs.
The department has applied to the Constitutional Court to set aside the court’s order made on March 25.
Refugee reception offices provide services to those who want to apply for...
6 May 2015
(News)
The Department of Home Affairs has presented a number of reasons why it believed the Supreme Court of Appeal’s (SCA’s) order that it must reopen the Port Elizabeth refugee reception office by July 1 was incorrect.
The department has applied to the Constitutional Court to set aside the SCA’s order made on March 25.
Refugee reception offices provide services to those who want to...
29 April 2015
(News)
The recent surge of violence against foreign nationals in South Africa has raised fears that South Africans abroad may be at risk of similar violence. These fears have some basis as the media has reported incidents in Mozambique of the stoning of South African trucks and expressions of concern raised by foreign governments and international institutions such as the African Union.
These reactions...
29 April 2015
(News)
ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe suggested that refugee camps are the solution, despite South Africa having signed a UN agreement to protect foreign nationals. Judge Dennis Davis is joined by Patricia Erasmus, Dr Imtiaaz Sooliman and Dr Zweli Mkhize.
29 April 2015
(Press release)
The Southern Africa Litigation Centre and Lawyers for Human Rights are hosting a seminar on the deterioration of the Rule of Law and Freedom of Expression in Swaziland.
Date: 30th April
Venue: Constitutional Court Auditorium
Time: to be seated at 9h45 for 10h00- 12h00
Programme
9h45 Arrival and seating
10h00 Welcome and introduction: Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh, Executive...
25 April 2015
(News)
Reymond Mapakata was on his bicycle earlier this week, pedaling his way toward this city’s central business district. A few days before he’d received a phone call about a Zimbabwean furniture maker who’d been attacked by a South African mob, and Mapakata was on his way to investigate.
It was not a straightforward mission. First there was a detour via Park Station, where police...
22 April 2015
(Press release)
In the face of violence that has targeted foreign nationals across South Africa over the past few weeks, Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) recognises the duty of authorities to adopt an effective national strategy aimed at aligning their immigration policy with regional and international human rights provisions in order to prevent and redress...
22 April 2015
(News)
Lawyers for Human Rights and the International Federation for Human Rights are calling on the government to reinforce their human rights-based legal framework in order to prevent and redress human rights violations against migrants.
Last week, in scenes reminiscent of 2008, xenophobic violence sparked off in Durban before spreading to other parts of the country.
Foreign nationals were attacked...
21 April 2015
(News)
Luc, a Congolese hairdresser, says that while he fears the wave of anti-foreigner attacks gripping South Africa, his main concern is fending off harassment from the people who are supposed to protect him: the police.
Luc, a wiry 38-year-old, said that every few weeks the police stop him on the street, ask for proof he’s in the country legally, and often demand a 50 rand ($4) bribe if he...