All news items
2 July 2010
(News)
BUSINESS DAY WILSON JOHWA The Department of Home Affair's deputy director -general responsible for immigration, Jackson McKay, said yesterday that Lt-Gen Kayumba Nyamwasa has successfuly applied for residency in SA. THE former Rwandan general and suspected war criminal who survived an apparent assassination attempt in Johannesburg last week is a recognised refugee in SA, a status that critics say...
26 June 2010
(News)
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) is pleased to announce that David Cote, head of the strategic litigation unit at the leading human rights organisation Lawyers for Human Rights, South Africa will observe the bail application in the matter of The State versus Farai Maguwu in the High Court of Zimbabwe from 16-17th June 2010. Mr Farai Maguwu, a respected human rights defender was...
28 May 2010
(Press release)
On 28 May the South Gauteng High Court ordered the immediate release of detained Zimbabwean human rights defender, Petro Chatiza. Lawyers for Human Rights launched an urgent court application for the release of Chatiza who has been active in the area of evictions and housing rights in Zimbabwe for several years. He was arrested on 21 May when he tried to board a flight at OR Tambo...
21 May 2010
(News)
African civil society groups, in a statement released today, called on Malawian authorities to repeal discriminatory laws criminalizing private sexual behavior, and release Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga. Monjeza and Chimbalanga were convicted of carnal knowledge against the order of nature and sentenced today to 14 years—the maximum penalty—in prison. Gift...
17 May 2010
(News)
NIC DAWES | JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - May 14 2010 16:26
The office of the presidency is claiming an unprecedented degree of executive privilege in an effort to prevent the Mail & Guardian from gaining access to a report commissioned by former president Thabo Mbeki.
The North Gauteng High Court will on Monday 24 May hear argument in the M&G's court bid to obtain the report by Deputy...
10 May 2010
(Press release)
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) welcomes today’s acquittal of Deputy Agriculture Minister-Designate and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Treasurer-General, Senator Roy Bennett on spurious charges of insurgency, banditry, terrorism and sabotage leveled against him last October.
On Monday 10 May 2010 High Court Judge Justice Chinembiri Bhunu freed Bennett after ruling that the...
6 May 2010
(Press release)
The municipal bylaws which have been promulgated specifically for the soccer world cup in host cities come into operation on 7 May 2010 and will remain in effect until 15 August 2010. Lawyers for Human Rights (“LHR”) has been monitoring the implementation of these bylaws and remains concerned about the potential for abuse of these bylaws by municipal officials and, in particular...
4 May 2010
(Press release)
We, the undersigned, condemn the Australian government’s decision to suspend its processing of all applications for asylum from individuals from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, for three and six months respectively.
The Suspension Policy is predicated on a profound misreading of the current situation in Sri Lanka and in Afghanistan. It plainly violates Australia’s human rights...
15 April 2010
(Press release)
Home Affairs’ Asylum Reforms Should Instead Focus on Immigration Policy, Say Rights Groups
The Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA) welcomes the recent statements by the Home Affairs Minister and Deputy Minister, made in advance of the department’s budget vote in Parliament, acknowledging the need for reform. However, these statements misrepresent the...
19 March 2010
(Press release)
The Johannesburg High Court on Wednesday 17th March ordered the immediate release of a family of eight asylum seekers who fled the Taliban in Afghanistan, after more than four months in detention and numerous attempts by Home Affairs to illegally return them to Afghanistan. The two parents, their five minor children, and the oldest daughter’s fiancé, also a minor, were arrested...