Immigration Detention Report
Year of Publication:
2010 
LHR’s Detention Monitoring Programme has been monitoring the arrest, detention and deportation of foreign nationals at local detention centres, primarily the Lindela Holding Facility and the Musina Detention Centre (SMG), for the past decade. In certain instances, the organisation also intervenes in detentions occurring at police stations, prisons, or at the OR Tambo International Airport. The Detention Monitoring Programme operates mainly from LHR’s Johannesburg and Musina offices. LHR’s law clinics in Pretoria and Durban also assist asylum seekers who are detained at police stations or at the refugee reception offices.
Lawyers for Human Rights is the only organisation that regularly visits Lindela and provides pro bono legal representation to detainees. Through these consultations, we are able to identify immigration trends and legal issues confronting detainees, as well as shifts in the policies of the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and the South African Police Services (SAPS). Our consultations with detainees also provide us with information about conditions at the facility and the treatment of detainees—an important window into the detention experience given the lack of any independent monitoring.
This report is based on LHR’s findings through its consultations with detainees, and its ongoing litigation brought against the Department in the period from January 2009 to August 2010.
Editor(s):
Roni Amit Full Text:
