By Wayne Ncube | National Director
LHR has been actively working towards social justice for the past six months.Lawyers for Human Rights' (LHR) Environmental Rights Programme (ERP) collaborated with various organizations and stakeholders to address improper mine closures in South Africa. Following the launch of the report "The Impact and Assessment of Improper Mine Closures in South Africa - Community Perspectives on Human Rights", ERP engaged in discussions with the Department of Minerals and Energy (DMRE), the Department of Housing Development (HDA), and the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). LHR also participated in an advocacy campaign with Mail & Guardian and Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, publishing an opinion piece on March 23, 2023, and releasing a podcast on March 13, 2023, to highlight the impacts of mine closures on communities and their rights.
LHR Land & Housing Programme published Urban Living in Tshwane: A Handbook on Access to Housing, Property Related Rights, and Service Delivery, and the Refugee & Migrant Rights Programme published a Handbook on the Rights and Realities of Forcibly Displaced Children & Youth in South Africa. The Statelessness Project got a positive judgment in Khoza v Minister of Home Affairs & One Other , while the Penal Reform Programme and Detention Monitoring Unit made a submission to the Special Rapporteur on Refugees, Asylum-seekers, and Internally Displaced Persons and Migrants in Africa as input on the Study on African Responses to Migration and the Guiding Principles on the Human Rights of All Migrants.
In January 2023, we participated in the Social Justice Assembly to discuss challenges faced by South Africa and the world, the state of the sector, and how civil society can better coordinate its efforts towards true social justice. In February, we joined other civil society organizations to call for decisive action in addressing violent attempts by Operation Dudula to stop migrant patients from accessing healthcare services.
In February, LHR and the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town launched the Immigration Detention Hotline, providing legal assistance and advice to anyone in South Africa being detained because of their immigration status. LHR also entered into a new pro bono partnership with Herbert Smith Freehills to increase capacity and create pathways to durable solutions for stateless people, migrants, and refugees.
LHR's Environmental Rights Programme's Palesa Maloisane wrote an op-ed for the Mail & Guardian discussing the human cost of improper mine closure and participated in a podcast to discuss community perspectives and what can be done to address the issue.
On 21 March, our Durban staff spent the day with Ukhozi FM to talk about the right to protest and freedom of expression in celebration of Human Rights Day. LHR's Land & Housing Programme participated in an online panel discussion on the unintended consequences of the Maledu judgment, and LHR participated in the Human Rights Festival at Constitution Hill from 24 to 26 March, engaging with visitors about our work.
LHR also launched the #BreakingBorders&Binaries campaign with Gender Dynamix to raise awareness of the double-marginalisation of transgender and gender non-conforming migrants.
Finally, for operational reasons, LHR closed its law clinic in Musina but is making sure this does not impact our ability to carry out important work in Limpopo.
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