Programme News
12 April 2011
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) wishes to add its voice to the growing calls for an end to rampant political oppression and violence in Swaziland. The events of today which has seen the mass arrests of hundreds of protesters and the detention of journalists have brought the political crisis in Swaziland into light.
Mass action has long been a tradition in Southern Africa against...
7 April 2011
(News)
Environmental and rights groups said yesterday that separate and unequal environmental rules for mines were “no longer defensible”. The organisations complained that they were being sidelined from early efforts to overhaul mining laws.
The 13 groups, including Lawyers for Human Rights, WWF South Africa and the Endangered Wildlife Trust, said the existing rules gave inadequate...
30 March 2011
(Press release)
The North Gauteng High Court has issued an interim order today returning two children to their father pending the outcome of a final decision on the matter. The children had been removed from their father’s custody and care by the police because he had not yet paid lobola to his deceased life partner’s family.
LHR is encouraged by the court’s decision as...
29 March 2011
(News)
Pretoria News I Zelda Venter I
A father from Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, will on Tuesday turn to the Pretoria High Court for an urgent order to have his two small children returned to him after claims that social services removed the children after his wife died, because he had not yet paid all his lobola. The man, who cannot be identified to protect his children, filed papers against the...
17 March 2011
(Press release)
South Africa commits to take “a leading role” on a “broad vision to take the issue of sexual orientation forward” within the African Group at the United Nations
The South African delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Council publicly affirmed its support for ending violence against people based on sexual orientation and gender identity. This statement issued...
16 March 2011
(News)
Lawyers for Human Rights have served letters on the Tshwane Municipality and the South African Police Service (Saps) demanding they come clean on plans for Schubart Park. Mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa told Eyewitness News at the State of the City Address, last week, that they plan on clearing out the inner city slum within the next two weeks.
The...
9 March 2011
(Press release)
After a long absence from Court, the matter of the Moutse Demarcation Forum and others v. President of the Republic of South Africa and others (case number: CCT 40 / 2008) will be heard before the Constitutional Court tomorrow, Thursday 10 March 2011.
Moutse is located near the present-day borders of Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces. During the negotiations for province...
3 March 2011
(Press release)
LAWYERS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS PRESS RELEASE
3 MARCH 2011
Lawyers for Human Rights (“LHR”) wishes to express its shock at media reports that members of SAPS’ Crime Intelligence Unit have raided the Office of the Public Protector in Pretoria. This raid appears to have been an attempt by police officers to gain access to documents related to the recent report condemning...
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...
24 November 2010
(Press release)
PRESS RELEASE - 24 November 2010
After more than ten weeks in detention at OR Tambo International Airport, the Supreme Court of Appeal today overturned a decision of the Pretoria High Court and ordered the immediate release of two Somali refugees - who were being deported by Namibia via South Africa to war-torn Somalia. They are being released tomorrow morning.
The Supreme...