Programme News
16 February 2013
(News)
South Africa is experiencing a major shift in its approach to asylum-seekers and refugees, Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) said on Friday.
“The changes amount to a substantial reduction of asylum-seeker and refugee protection culminating in increased danger of sending people back to face persecution,” LHR said in a statement.
“Since early 2011, these shifts have resulted in group...
15 February 2013
(Press release)
The report Policy Shifts in the South African Asylum System: Evidence and Implications, compiled by Lawyers for Human Rights and the African Centre for Migration and Society, has revealed that South Africa is experiencing a major shift in the approach to asylum-seekers and refugees – the most significant since the asylum system was established in the 1990s. The changes amount to a...
7 February 2013
(News)
On the streets of inner-city Johannesburg, refugees and asylum-seekers are participants in a thriving informal economy, plying their trade as tailors, barbers and street vendors.
South Africa’s laissez-faire policy towards its refugee population means they have little choice but to fall back on their own skills and creativity to survive. And despite the many challenges they face - from...
31 January 2013
(News)
Frederik Ngubane was born in South Africa to South African parents 22 years ago but, lacking any proof of his origins or nationality, he lives a shadowy, marginal existence. He cannot travel, study or secure formal employment and has lost count of how many times he has been arrested for being undocumented.
Not considered a national by South Africa or by Kenya or Uganda - the two countries where...
25 January 2013
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights is disappointed by statements made by Home Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor following today’s visit to the Lindela holding facility for immigration detention.
13 December 2012
(News)
The home affairs department says from 2013, it will only issue unabridged birth certificates.
Speaking at a media briefing on Thursday, Home Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor said the unabridged certificates will be issued free of charge to all first time applicants.
Pandor said the unabridged certificates will be issued on the spot, reducing the turn-around time currently experienced when...
7 December 2012
(News)
South Africa attracts more asylum seekers than any other country in the world. There are 58 000 refugees in the country and more than 200 000 pending cases for asylum seekers. Somalis are among the most visible of the refugee communities as they usually are traders who operate in the most destitute places. But this leaves them vulnerable to very high levels of crime.
In the dry heat of the...
7 December 2012
(News)
The South African government could soon face being charged with contempt of court, as part of an ongoing battle by human rights groups to stop the closure of refugee reception offices across the country.
There are now only three offices left open across South Africa since the authorities started closing the facilities last year, as part if what is understood to be a change in the government's...
6 December 2012
(Press release)
North Gauteng High Court confirms the importance of confidentiality in hearings before the Refugee Appeal Board. The court also declared the 2003 Rules of the Refugee Appeal Board invalid. See attached judgment
6 December 2012
(News)
Migration specialist Roni Amit calls South Africa's policy towards migrants in recent years "the securitisation of immigration".
Amit, who is a senior researcher at the Centre for African Migration and Society at Johannesburg’s Wits University, says "there’s just this increased sense that we need to protect our borders and stop people from coming in. There’s...