Programme News
22 October 2018
(Press release)
Johannesburg, 22 October 2018
Press release: Civil Society Coordinating Collective (CSCC) which is an umbrella body that brings together approximately 50 organisations and individuals and The Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA) representing 24 members nationally together with, Sonke Gender Justice, International Labour Research and and Information Group (ILRIG) and...
24 July 2018
(Press release)
24 July 2018
Yesterday the Department of Home Affairs finally registered an 18 month old baby under pressure of a Children’s Court order.
Baby Senelile* was found in a field in Pretoria soon after birth. There were no clues about who her parents were. Despite being a clearly abandoned and vulnerable foundling child, the Department of Home Affairs refused the social worker...
17 July 2018
(Press release)
17 July 2018
Watch our short explainer video here.
Hundreds of children are forced into undocumented lives and denied their basic rights due to their parents’ documentation status. The Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town, Lawyers for Human Rights and the Legal Resources Centre call for the South African government to amend regulations around birth registration to ensure that a child’s...
18 May 2017
(Press release)
Last week states from around the world gathered to review South Africa on its human rights situation. This process is called the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and all states are reviewed once every 5 years by their fellow states. The recommendations made by states are aimed at improving the human rights situation on the ground. Although every state has only 2 or 3 recommendations, this year 12...
1 March 2017
(Press release)
On 22 February 2017 Eastleigh Primary School in Edenvale, Gauteng, issued a letter to all foreign parents threatening to refuse their children access to education and to have children arrested if their papers are not in order.
Although the school has retracted the letter, it is important, particularly amidst xenophobic marches and increasing school admission refusals, to shed light on the...
20 June 2016
(News)
Stateless children in South Africa are children who live in South Africa, and are even sometimes born in South Africa, but do not have the citizenship of South Africa or any other country in the world. These children are mostly undocumented.
Without a birth certificate or ID document they have trouble accessing: - Education - Health care - Social grants - Travel documents When...
21 January 2016
(Press release)
LHR is an independent human rights organisation with a thirty-seven year track record of human rights activism and public interest litigation in South Africa. We offer human rights lawyers an exciting and challenging work environment covering a wide range of social justice issues.
LHR is inviting applications from law graduates with an interest in human rights law and public interest litigation...
20 November 2015
(News)
The high court in Pretoria reserved judgment in a legal challenge in which Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) is questioning the constitutionality of sections of the Immigration Act which do not make provision for detainees to be brought before court in person to challenge the lawfulness of their detention.
The Immigration Act allows Home Affairs to arrest and detain a person it deems to be an...
11 November 2015
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights, in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre and Constitution Hill, would like to invite you to the opening of the photographic exhibition I Belong – Ending Statelessness by 2024.
Today at least 10-million people globally are stateless – they are told that they don’t belong...
11 November 2015
(Press release)
Yesterday (Tuesday), the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria heard arguments regarding LHR’s constitutional challenge against the manner in which suspected undocumented foreigners are detained under Section 34 of the Immigration Act.
This challenge was filed in June 2014 after the introduction of the new immigration regulations and seeks to ensure court oversight of immigration detention, as...