Programme News
16 April 2015
(News)
Parliament’s portfolio committee on home affairs released a statement last week — titled, Flouting of immigration regulations a concern — in which it warned foreign nationals in SA not to commit crimes and put "in jeopardy the basis on which they are in SA".
The committee quoted instances from the recent mugging of South African Broadcasting Corporation journalists to...
15 April 2015
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights continues to monitor and assist victims of xenophobic violence that has again erupted across South Africa.
These interventions have focused on short, medium and long term solutions.
Several people have been killed so far in the attacks and thousands more injured and displaced. The spike in the violence raised questions of whether these attacks simply flare up every few...
15 April 2015
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights continues to monitor and assist victims of xenophobic violence that has again erupted across South Africa.
These interventions have focused on short, medium and long term solutions.
Several people have been killed so far in the attacks and thousands more injured and displaced. The spike in the violence raised questions of whether these attacks simply flare up every few...
15 April 2015
(News)
Head of LHR's Refugee and Migrant Rights Programme, Patricia Erasmus, discusses xenophobic violence that has erupted across South Africa.
15 April 2015
(News)
At least five people have been killed and dozens arrested in South Africa in recent days as residents of the coastal city of Durban began attacking foreigners, their homes and places of business.
The anti-foreigner violence in the busy port city, which continued on Tuesday, is reminiscent of the 2008 attacks in Johannesburg that killed more than 60 people and displaced thousands. Since Friday,...
15 April 2015
(News)
The Durban city centre was a battlefield yesterday with mobs of South Africans attacking foreign-owned shops, and foreigners taking up arms to fight back.
About 200 people stoned foreign-owned shops on Dr Pixley KaSeme Street (West Street), prompting riot police to shut down the area.
The battles broke out within an hour of Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba assuring diplomats from Nigeria,...
14 April 2015
(News)
Malawi and Somalia are preparing to repatriate their countrymen after weeks of xenophobic violence in KwaZulu-Natal.
Last night, the Somali embassy said it was trying to trace its citizens and help them escape the violence. It has demanded urgent assistance from the Department of International Relations and Co-operation.
The Malawian government said it would be helping citizens living in South...
14 April 2015
(News)
South Africa’s government is struggling to contain a flare up of attacks against foreigners in the port city of Durban that’s left at least five people dead and forced more than 1,000 immigrants to flee their homes.
Police battled with groups of foreigners on the streets of Durban’s city center on Tuesday as they burned tires and threw stones in protest after facing attacks from...
14 April 2015
(News)
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is deeply concerned by the continued outbreaks of xenophobia that have been occurring around the country, particularly in Durban where many foreign families, including refugees and asylum seekers, have been displaced, the agency said on Tuesday.
However, the agency said it welcomed the increased response from government to address the...
13 April 2015
(News)
LHR is dispirited by the call for the establishment of refugee camps by ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe at the weekend.
What makes Mantashe’s comments all the more worrying is its surfacing mere days after Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba publicly denounced xenophobic and loaded statements from political leaders amid ongoing violence and intolerance. The rationalisation that these...