Programme News
26 April 2013
(News)
Most asylum seekers arrive in host countries with no evidence to prove they have fled persecution. This means the success of their applications for refugee status depends largely on whether their stories are believed. But the credibility of asylum seekers is increasingly being called into question, particularly in countries that receive large numbers of asylum claims.
Some migrants with no hope...
24 April 2013
(News)
Lawyers for Human Rights has claimed that the Department of Home Affairs' decision to close the refugee reception offices in metropolitan areas and opening offices in remote areas along South Africa's borders, will effectively create refugee camps.
LHR and the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University's refugee rights centre have challenged the closure of the Port Elizabeth RRO.
20 April 2013
(News)
Judgment has been reserved in the Eastern Cape High Court in a battle between Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) and the Home Affairs Department.
This concerns a decision by the director general of Home Affairs to close a Refugee Reception Office (RRO) in Port Elizabeth.
LHR has approached the court to have the office reopened after it was closed in October 2011. The lobby group has argued that the...
20 April 2013
(Press release)
Judgment has been reserved in the case challenging the closure of the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Office in the Eastern Cape High Court.
Lawyers for Human Rights and the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University’s Refugee Rights Centre are challenging the closure - the latest in a series of moves by the Department of Home Affairs to relocate RROs to the country’s borders.
LHR...
19 April 2013
(News)
It is a windless 35 degrees in the dusty village of Rockville, half an hour north of Pretoria. Yet every door and every window in the village is closed. All the residents are indoors. More astonishingly, there are no children in the street or playing in gardens. The children have been sent away.
"I sent my two children to Johannesburg because they were so sick here," says...
19 April 2013
(News)
The Home Affairs Ministry is set to be hauled before the Eastern Cape High Court tomorrow over the closure of the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Office.
"Our argument includes that there was no consultation with the public (when closing the office), there was no attempt to engage with asylum seekers and refugees in Port Elizabeth or organisations representing them,” said head of...
19 April 2013
(News)
The Port Elizabeth High Court would on Friday hear an application for review brought by the Somali Association of South Africa Eastern Cape and the Project For Conflict Resolution and Development against the Minister of Home Affairs and three of her officials.
The civil society organizations through Lawyers for Human Rights asked the court to review a decision made by the director general of the...
18 April 2013
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights and the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University’s Refugee Rights Centre will appear in the Eastern Cape High Court tomorrow, 19 April 2013, to challenge the closure of the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Office (RRO).
LHR is representing the Somali Association of South Africa and the Project for Conflict Resolution and Development who first challenged the...
10 April 2013
(News)
For the past 30 years, Karl Ammann shot his world-famous wildlife photography on a Nikon. At the weekend, he resorted to covertly snapping a picture with his BlackBerry in order to capture evidence of his detention and deportation from OR Tambo International Airport.
Although the Immigration Act allows for detention of up to 30 days and an additional 90 days with a warrant from the magistrate...
18 March 2013
(Press release)
The undersigned civil society organisations condemn in the strongest terms the arrest and continued detention of veteran Zimbabwean human rights lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa.
Mtetwa was arrested on Sunday, 17 March 2013, while attempting to provide legal assistance to Thabani Mpofu, Director of Research and Development in the Office of the Zimbabwean Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, who was arrested...