Programme News
9 April 2015
(News)
Freedom of movement is a critically important refugee right, and nearly all others are contingent upon it. Without freedom of movement, rights to employment, education, legal access, identity papers, travel documents, naturalisation, and many other fundamental entitlements are severely curtailed, if not completely blocked. This right is repeatedly articulated in international law, reiterated in...
2 April 2015
(News)
South Africa is in the grips of increasingly aggressive behaviour from our police and xenophobic attitudes from government officials that have led to the dehumanisation and unfair targeting of our country’s most vulnerable.
In the 2013/14 reporting period alone, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate registered complaints of 234 deaths of suspects while in police custody, 390...
27 March 2015
(News)
The Supreme Court of Appeal has severely criticised Home Affairs for ignoring repeated court orders and gave the department until 1 July to reopen the refugee reception office (RRO) in Port Elizabeth.
The court also ordered Home Affairs director general Mkuseli Apleni to report in writing once a month to the Somali Association of South Africa and the Project for Conflict Resolution and...
25 March 2015
(Press release)
In a scathing judgment, the Supreme Court of Appeal has ordered the Department of Home Affairs to reopen the refugee reception office in Port Elizabeth and provide full services by 1 July 2015.
The SCA declared the decision to close the office unlawful and ordered that Home Affairs Director General Mkuseli Apleni deliver monthly reports on steps taken to ensure compliance. The court’s...
25 March 2015
(News)
In apartheid South Africa, any white person was entitled to stop a black person and demand that they produce their pass book, which every black person over the age of 16 was required to carry. These pass books were known as dompas, which translates literally as “stupid pass”. The belittling and degrading documents were a means to control the movement of Africans in an appallingly...
20 March 2015
(Press release)
It is with deep regret that Lawyers for Human Rights in South Africa and Swaziland have heard reports of human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko’s placement into solitary confinement while at Big Bend Prison in Swaziland.
Maseko was put into solitary confinement yesterday (19 March) for having written a letter to friends and colleagues that was subsequently made public, thanking them for their...
19 March 2015
(Press release)
In commemoration of Human Rights Day, Lawyers for Human Rights is hosting a cafe discussion on recent trends of using criminal law to target the poor. Discussions will examine the policies and decisions that exclude marginalised communities and limit their access to public space and services. Increasingly, authorities treat informal traders, beggars and the homeless as a threat to public safety....
18 March 2015
(Press release)
The Angolan authorities must immediately and unconditionally release two human rights defenders who were detained solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in the country’s Cabinda region, five organizations including Amnesty International said today.
Jose Marcos Mavungo was arrested on 14 March 2015 – the day of the planned protest - and...
12 March 2015
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights appeared in the North Gauteng High Court on Wednesday on behalf of a number of separated minors to deal with access to education and documentation for this vulnerable group.
An interim order was granted in 2013 guaranteeing asylum seeker and refugee children access to education. The second part of the case was aimed at developing a path to documentation by recognising...
6 March 2015
(News)
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the South African NGO Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) and the Mozambican Mine Workers Association (AMIMO) are working together to find sustainable solutions for migrant mineworkers and their families to access the social security benefits they are entitled, including healthcare, pension schemes and worker compensation.
There are a range of...