Programme News
9 July 2011
(Press release)
LHR seeks to fill the following vacancies:
Attorney: Pretoria
The Refugee and Migrant Rights Programme seeks a self-motivated admitted attorney with an interest in constitutional and public interest litigation. Good writing and research skills are essential. High Court litigation experience would be an advantage. This is an opportunity to get exposure to international law, work with United...
1 July 2011
(Press release)
It is with an increasing sense of frustration that LHR has learned of comments made by Ms Maggie Maunye, Chairperson of the Parliament’s Home Affairs’ Portfolio Committee.
On 29 July 2011, Ms Maunye made comments during a parliamentary portfolio committee meeting implying that South Africans have not been able to enjoy freedom since 1994 due to the presence of foreign nationals...
22 June 2011
(News)
Increasingly South Africa is receiving children migrating from countries as far off as Somalia, DRC, Burundi and Zimbabwe who cross borders without parents, relatives or care-givers. Commonly referred to as unaccompanied minors, these children leave their countries of origin for a number of reasons, some fleeing war and conflict, forcible recruitment as child soldiers, forced marriage,...
20 June 2011
(News)
When Parliament adopted the Refugees Act just more than a decade ago, it was hailed by many as a progressive and modern approach to protect people fleeing persecution and civil strife. South Africa broke from the traditional African approach of accommodating refugees in large rural-based camps. Parliament has also thus far resisted the European and Australian examples of detaining asylum seekers...
1 June 2011
(Press release)
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...
25 May 2011
(News)
Johannesburg - Round two of a battle by two Batswana to avoid the death penalty in their country continued in the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday.The extradition laws and constitutions of Botswana and South Africa were pitted against each other. Also, the extradition treaty the two countries have signed, came into focus.
The South African Constitution gives emphasis to human rights and...
22 May 2011
(Press release)
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...
24 March 2011
(Press release)
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...
11 February 2011
(Press release)
The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria handed down judgment today in which it criticised the Department of Home Affairs’ practice of arresting and detaining asylum seekers without verifying their status or allowing access to the refugee system.
The court held that “(i)t is simply untenable in a constitutional democracy that someone should have to give up their liberty...
28 January 2011
(Press release)
The Immigration Amendment Bill has been introduced to streamline the procedures of the Department of Home Affairs. The Bill seeks to encourage legal immigration by inter alia rationalising the permitting system, revising the requirements for a business visa and introducing a new critical skills category.
The objects of the Bill include the amendment of the Immigration Act, 2002 (Act...