Programme News
19 July 2014
(News)
Somali girl to get life-saving treatment
A critically ill young Somali girl was Friday morning admitted to a state hospital in Pretoria for treatment after a settlement between her lawyers and health authorities.
Lawyers for Human Rights launched an urgent application in the North Gauteng High Court to secure life-saving treatment for the 12-year-old girl after she was allegedly refused treatment...
18 July 2014
(Press release)
Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria has agreed to treat a 12-year-old Somali girl that was initially refused a life-saving operation.
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) and the hospital reached an agreement on Friday that she would be treated immediately at Steve Biko where she has since been admitted as a patient. The agreement was made an order of court in the North Gauteng High Court.
The...
18 July 2014
(News)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) has launched an urgent application in the North Gauteng High Court to seek life-saving treatment for a 12-year old Somalian girl who may die because she is undocumented and cannot pay a quarter million rand bond for surgery. AAISHA DADI PATEL reports.
The girl arrived in South Africa on July 4 as an asylum seeker, with the intention of applying for...
18 July 2014
(News)
The brother of a 12-year-old refugee Somali girl who is being refused life-saving surgery will turn to the North Gauteng High Court for an urgent order forcing the health authorities to give her the heart operation she desperately needs.
The girl cannot be operated on because she has no refugee documents, or R250 000.
The two cannot be identified because the girl is a minor.
Lawyers for...
18 July 2014
(News)
No heart surgery for ailing girl
The 10-day journey from war-torn Somalia to South Africa was tough, but it was the start of a better life for the 12-year-old.
Or so she thought.
The girl, whose unemployed and widowed mother remains in Mogadishu, planned to live with her brother in Pretoria, where he runs a small shop.
But just a day after she arrived in the country on July 4, she collapsed and...
16 July 2014
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights has launched an urgent application in the North Gauteng High Court seeking life-saving medical treatment for a 12-year-old Somali girl.
The matter will be heard on Friday, 18 July 2014, at 10am.
She arrived in South Africa on 4 July as an asylum-seeker with the intention of applying for refugee status after fleeing conflict in Somalia. Unfortunately, before being able to...
11 July 2014
(News)
Walk down most streets in Johannesburg and you will hear accents and languages from across this vast African continent.
Builders by the roadside waiting for work chatter away in the sweet sing-song rhythm of African Portuguese, waiters stand and gossip between orders employing the rolling Rs and whistles that mark out Shona, a language of Zimbabwe and southern Zambia.
Congolese, Somalis,...
8 July 2014
(News)
After a six-year legal battle, a girl born in South Africa to Cuban parents has a country she can call home.
Yesterday, the girl's mother said she was able to sleep again after the Pretoria High Court last week ruled that her daughter was a South African citizen, and that the Department of Home Affairs had acted unlawfully by not registering her as such.
The Cape Town family - with the help...
7 July 2014
(Press release)
Last week, the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria set a precedent by declaring a six-year-old child a South African citizen
The child was born to Cuban parents who, due to Cuban law, were not able to pass their citizenship to their child. The court made the order in line with Section 2(2) of the South African Citizenship Act, 88 of 1995. This section guarantees citizenship to children...
7 July 2014
(News)
During phase two of the arms deal public hearings, who makes the allegations will prove to be just as important as the allegations themselves.
Intentionally or not, starting phase two of the Arms Procurement Commission’s inquiry on July 21 with evidence by the so-called “critics” of the arms deal will set them up as complainants in the matter.
Phase two will deal with...