Programme News
7 October 2014
(News)
Somali and Ethiopian asylum seekers and refugees have scored a longed-for victory against official xenophobia – the Supreme Court of Appeal has thrown out key elements of ‘Operation Hardstick’.
This is a police programme in terms of which, among other strategies, Somali and Ethiopian businesses in Limpopo were shut down regardless of whether or not they had valid licences...
2 October 2014
(Press release)
On August 13, 2014, Mr. Edwin Samotse, a Botswana national, was unlawfully deported from South Africa to Botswana, where he runs the risk of being sentenced to death and executed. While South Africa’s conduct has been declared unlawful, FIDH – a member of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty – LHR and DITSHWANELO call upon the authorities of Botswana to guarantee...
30 September 2014
(News)
There is no law to prevent refugees and asylum seekers from getting licences to operate spaza shops in SA, the Supreme Court of Appeal said on Friday.
The proliferation of immigrant-run spaza shops in townships across the country has led to tension with local traders, some of whom have argued that only South African citizens should be entitled to licences. While they appeared to have support from...
25 September 2014
(Press release)
Civil Society Organisations respond to the SAHRC Investigation into alleged human rights infringements and reduced access to health care at the Lindela Repatriation Centre and demand that the South African Government act on the recommendations to hold those responsible for implementation to account.
On 18 September 2014, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) released a report...
23 September 2014
(News)
Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba must ensure his staff knows the law applying to immigrants and deportations, the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ruled on Tuesday.
Judge Eberhard Bertelsmann referred Gigaba to a previous Constitutional Court ruling involving the deportations of two Botswana nationals.
The court had found it was unlawful for the department to deport or surrender a...
18 September 2014
(Press release)
The matter of Samotse v Minister of Home Affairs and others, challenging the deportation of a Botswana national to face charges where the Government of Botswana refused to give assurances that the death penalty would not be imposed, has been stood down until Thursday 18 September 2014 at 10am on the urgent roll of the North Gauteng High Court.
Mr Samotse was deported from South Africa on 13...
17 September 2014
(Press release)
Somali Association of South Africa & 5 Others v Limpopo Department of Economic Development, the Environment and Tourism and 9 Others
Lawyers for Human Rights appeared in the Supreme Court of SA on 16th September to appeal the dismissal of the case that challenged the unlawful closure of refugee and asylum-seeker traders’ informal businesses by the police. The challenge comes in the...
8 September 2014
(News)
The life of a Botswana national is hanging in the balance after the Home Affairs Department deported him to his home country were he is facing capital punishment.
Lawyers for Human Rights have now taken up Edwin Samotse’s cause and is taking the department to the high court following the deportation. Lawyers for Human Right’s David Cote said Samotse was deported to Botswana despite an...
5 September 2014
(News)
The bubbly 12-year-old speaking animatedly from her hospital bed barely resembles the girl who made headlines in July when her brother went to court to save her life.
The young girl’s plight was revealed after her 26-year-old brother went to the Pretoria High Court to get his sister admitted to Pretoria’s Steve Biko Academic Hospital for a life-saving heart operation.
He claimed that...
Press statement: Home Affairs thwarts law again – deports Botswana national at risk of death penalty
4 September 2014
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights is appalled at the Home Affairs Department’s latest blatant disregard for the rule of law by deporting a Botswana national facing the possibility of the death penalty. This is despite an order from the Justice Minister that he may not be extradited as well as clear and unambigous law prohibiting Home Affairs from doing so.
LHR will be joining Legal Aid South Africa...