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PASSOP intervenes in case on detention of suspected illegal foreigners

People Against Poverty‚ Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP) has filed its written submissions as a friend of the court in a challenge to the detention regime implemented by the Department of Home Affairs when detaining people suspected of being illegal foreigners‚ in particular the aspect of judicial oversight of detainees.

The submission were filed on Thursday. PASSOP is being represented by the Legal Resources Centre.

The matter of Lawyers for Human Rights v Department of Home Affairs will be heard in the Constitutional Court on November 8. The matter concerns the procedures and safeguards governing the detention of people suspected of being illegal foreigners under section 34(1) of the Immigration Act 13 of 2002. The High Court has declared sections 34(1)(b) and (d) of the Act constitutionally invalid.

“LHR are challenging these sections of the Act for two reasons: the Act does not require that a detained person be automatically brought before a court within 48 hours for the court to confirm the lawfulness of their detention‚ which is the case for other detained people. Secondly‚ while the Act envisages a warrant being obtained from a magistrates’ court‚ the Department’s interpretation is that this must occur without the detained person appearing in person before the magistrate concerned‚ “ the Legal Resource Centre said.

“PASSOP are supporting LHR’s argument and have made submissions to the court on the relevance of binding and non-binding international legal instruments‚ foreign law‚ reports of specialised bodies‚ standards and guidelines relating to judicial oversight of immigration detention. They have made submissions in which they will argue that the provisions adopted by the Department of Home Affairs are not consistent with international guidelines and standards applicable to immigration detention‚” LCR added.

It said those suspected of being illegally in South Africa still enjoyed certain rights in the Constitution.

“The failure for migrants to be afforded an automatic‚ judicially supervised review of the detention infringes on these rights.”

 

 

 

 

 

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