Programme News
11 November 2015
(News)
Home affairs maintained there were sufficient protections under the Immigration Act.
Judgment has been reserved in Lawyers for Human Rights’ constitutional challenge against the manner in which suspected undocumented foreigners are detained under Section 34 of the Immigration Act.
LHR filed the challenge in the High Court in Pretoria in June after the introduction of new immigration...
10 November 2015
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) is pleased with the Constitutional Court’s dismissal of an application by the Department of Home Affairs against a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling that it reopen the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Office (RRO), bringing an end to a long-running litigation battle.
This means Home Affairs must adhere to the SCA ruling and reopen the office. They will have three...
6 November 2015
(Press release)
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Lawyers for Human Rights Swaziland (LHR(S), Lawyers for Human Rights South Africa (LHR), and Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) organised a training on strategic litigation for lawyers and human rights defenders from 6-7 November 2015 in Ezulwini, Swaziland. The training was intended to empower Swazi lawyers and human rights defenders with...
12 October 2015
(News)
The ANC has given Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir the green light to return to South Africa to attend the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation in December.
Minster of International Relations and Co-operation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, speaking yesterday at the party‘s National General Council meeting in Midrand, said President Jacob Zuma had sent invitations to members of the forum and that no...
28 September 2015
(Press release)
The organisers of the Unite against Corruption march invite all media to an urgent final press conference before we march on Wednesday, 30 September.
The broad spectrum of coalition members will be present and will include trade unions, faith-based organisations, students and civil society. Four senior representatives from each of these constituencies will be available at the press conference....
21 September 2015
(Press release)
Civil society organisations endorsing the Unite Against Corruption marches on 30 September in Pretoria and Cape Town invite media to a briefing on Tuesday 22 September that will highlight the extent to which corruption affects the work of civil society, and the reasons for participating in these marches to register the broad dissent against those involved in corrupt practices.
Organisations...
17 September 2015
(Press release)
The People’s Coalition Against Xenophobia calls for Angolans who have been legally living in South Africa with refugee status for many years to be allowed to regularise their stay in the country.
In April 2013 the South African government agreed to implement a cessation of refugee status for Angolans. Following a recommendation from the UNHCR, the South African government agreed that...
15 September 2015
(Press release)
The conviction and six-year prison sentence imposed on José Marcos Mavungo is a travesty of justice and a blatant violation of the right to freedom of expression, association and assembly in Angola, said six human rights organisations today.
The organisations, the South African Litigation Centre (SALC), Lawyers for Human Rights, Front Line Defenders, the International Commission of...
8 September 2015
(Press release)
The next several days in Swaziland — Africa’s last absolute monarchy — will be paramount to determining the prospects for a semblance of democracy and the protection of basic human rights in this little known country of 1.2 million people.
Starting today, Swaziland’s High Court will hear a constitutional challenge to two of the country’s most draconian laws: the...
2 September 2015
(News)
On April 15 of this year, Themba Maphosa awoke to news that five immigrants had been killed by South African gangs the previous night in Durban. A month earlier, the Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini shouted at a rally that "foreigners must pack their bags and go home." A wave of violence soon engulfed the country. South Africans remembered similar violence in the country in 2008 when...