Programme News
24 July 2008
(Press release)
Amnesty International today condemned the forcible removal by police of more than 700 people, including refugees and asylum-seekers, from the Glenanda ("Rifle Range Road") displacement camp near Johannesburg to Lindela Repatriation Centre.
23 July 2008
(News)
Release Glenanda Asylum seekers - lawyers
Asylum seekers and refugees detained at the Lindela Repatriation Centre following their removal from Johannesburg's Glenanda camp on Tuesday should not be deported, Lawyers for Human Rights said on Wednesday.
Spokesperson Jacob van Garderen said his organisation had sent a team of lawyers to the detention centre to help those who believed they had...
23 July 2008
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights has been monitoring the situation at the Rifle Range Camp for victims of xenophobic attacks. We are greatly concerned about the recent arrests of residents of the camp who refused to register and be issued with a temporary exemption permit under the Immigration Act.
Although LHR sees the issuing of such permits as an important step towards the reintegration of...
23 July 2008
(News)
The Citizen 23 July 2008
Fight to save foreigner camps
STEVEN TAU and CHRIS BATHEMBU
JOHANNESBURG - LAWYERS for Human Rights (LHR) will fight a bid by the Gauteng government to demolish temporary shelters set up to house victims of xenophobic attacks across the province.
The provincial government announced yesterday that the shelters will be destroyed by the end of the week...
11 July 2008
(Press release)
UNHCR has noticed some disturbing developments with the pattern of displacement from Zimbabwe following the March general elections and accelerating since the 27 June presidential run-off vote, with more refugees crossing the border into South Africa seeking asylum. Previously, most Zimbabweans crossing the border were single men (about 90 percent) or women seeking work. We are now seeing...
1 July 2008
(News)
LHR’s Refugee and Migrant Rights Programme is seeking a lawyer with human rights experience in its Musina office in Limpopo.
Key responsibilities:
monitoring of the deportation process and the treatment of detainees who held pending deportation to Zimbabwe;
Legal assistance to asylum seekers and migrant workers in that region; ·
Liaise with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees...
27 June 2008
(Press release)
NEWS RELEASE FROM LAWYERS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS – 26 JUNE 2008
The Pretoria High Court today ordered the Department of Home Affairs to release a group of Zimbabwean asylum seekers who are unlawfully detained at the Lindela immigration detention centre. Lawyers for Human Rights brought this application on behalf of the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum and 33 political asylum seekers who were arrested...
20 June 2008
(Press release)
In commemoration of World Refugee Day, Lawyers forHuman Rights calls on government and the South African citizenry to observe aday of reflection and mourning for victims of the recent xenophobic attackswhich have plagued our country. The wave of xenophobic violence andanti-foreigner sentiment is not a new phenomenon in South Africa and it isunlikely that this xenophobic sentiment will come to an...
2 June 2008
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), in collaboration with the Johannesburg Central Methodist Church and Medecins Sans Frontieres (‘MSF'), will launch an urgent application for an interim interdict to prevent the transfer of displaced foreigners from the Jeppestown and Cleveland police stations to a temporary shelter in Vickers Road pending an order that will ensure the safety of the displaced...
16 May 2008
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights is concerned that victims of xenophobic attacks in and around Gauteng Province continue to be arrested and detained by members of the South African Police Service. These arrests continue despite a commitment by Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula that victims of xenophobic attacks will not be deported, but will be assisted and protected from such attacks...