Legal Assistance

LHR is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental human rights organisation, started by a group of activist lawyers in 1979.

What services do they offer?

The REFUGEE AND MIGRANT RIGHTS PROGRAMME programme offers walk-in law clinics provide legal advice and representation, to ensure due process for asylum seekers and refugees.

This programme also has the following units:

• Statelessness Unit
• Detention Monitoring Unit

The Refugee and Migrant Rights walk-in clinics can be found in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Durban and Musina.

No LHR Office close to you? No problem! All offices can give legal advice over the phone or by email at [email protected]

How to contact them?

If you need LHR’s help, or have a question, send them an email at [email protected]

OR

Walk-in or get in touch with the LHR office nearest to you (contact details available below and here):

The Refugee Rights Centre operates in the human sector, focusing especially on Refugee Rights and Refugee protection in the Eastern Cape. It seeks to educate and inform refugee and local communities as well as public service providers about the rights and responsibilities of refugees and the obligations of Government departments in terms of the Refugee and Immigration Acts specifically, and the Constitution of South Africa and international legislation in general.

What services do they offer?

Undertaking measures to ensure effective legal remedies are available.
Intervention in refugee status determination process.
Provision of interventions in court cases.
Conducting training for legal professionals and government officials.

The objectives of the Centre include the provision of access to legal services to refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in towns and cities of the Eastern Cape; creation of awareness among refugee communities about their legitimate rights and how to assert these; to ensure that women migrants, refugees and asylum seekers are rendered the rights and other services due to them under the Constitution; training of different Government department officials on Refugee and Immigration Law to ensure improved services to refugees by public officials, to contribute to the eradication of institutionalised xenophobia and to intervene in incidents of unlawful arrest of asylum seekers by law enforcement agencies.

How to contact them?

If you need Nelson Mandela University’s help, or have a question, send them an email at [email protected]

OR

Make an appointment by calling 041504110

08:30 – 13:00 Mondays to Thursdays

ATTENTION! No Walk-in allowed!

The Refugee Rights Clinic is a law clinic registered with the Cape Law Society.  They provide free legal services to refugees and asylum seekers in the Western Cape. The Clinic is professionally staffed by a team of Attorneys and Candidate Attorneys. Senior students from the UCT law faculty and visiting interns from around the world also assist the clinic in its work.

What services do they offer?
Legal aid clinic;
Research unit;
Teaching;
Advocacy and training.

How to contact them?

If you need University of Cape Town’s help, or have a question, send them an email at [email protected]

OR

Make an appointment  by calling 021 650 5581

The Clinic’s hours are 08:30 to 16:30, Monday to Friday and closed every day for lunch (13:00 to 14:00)

(Urgent matters require no appointment)

Whatsapp Lines
Children’s Clinic: (27) 63 656 5080
Status Determination Clinic: (27) 72 499 8146
Detention and Rights Clinic: (27) 78 594 5591

Once you request for an appointment, consultations with clients are conducted Monday to Thursday from 08:30 until 13:00 only.

For more information on the services offered by the UCT Refugee Rights Unit (RRU), please click on the link: Refugee Rights Unit (uct.ac.za)