Lawyers Against Apartheid

Lawyers Against Apartheid was formed following a legal conference in December 1986 to mobilize support for the liberation struggles in South Africa and Namibia from members of the legal community in Britain, including practitioners, academics, students and legal workers. The group was affiliated to the Namibia Support Committee, London, and the Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM); it adopted AAM's guidelines for Local Groups. At its first official meeting in London in January 1986, it was decided that the group's aims were to include exposing the nature and illegitimacy of the apartheid regime to the British legal community, campaigning for anti-apartheid policies and practices within the British legal community, and providing advice and assistance to the local anti-apartheid groups. The group challenged the established ideas of the South African legal system, especially the myth of impartial hearings from an independent tribunal. It also promoted the issue of Prisoner of War status for captured freedom fighters and supported the campaign for Namibia's independence following South Africa's illegal occupation. Lawyers Against Apartheid held at least four speaker meetings a year, usually at Greys Inn, London, and had a number of sub-groups that worked on specific issues such as Prisoners of War, Domestic Legal Support, International Law, and Trials & Punishments. The group was financed through a subscription from its members as well as fund-raising events. With the end of apartheid in South Africa, the group folded in 1996, donating much of its remaining funds to Action for South Africa, London (ACTSA), formerly the Anti-Apartheid Movement.