South Africa August 2006 |
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| Foreign African migrants vulnerable, (AND Network, 2006-08-09):-South Africa's law enforcement agencies arrest, detain and deport undocumented foreign migrants in ways that flout South Africa's immigration laws, a report says. This is contained in a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report which was released on Tuesday. The report is based on HRW mission to Limpopo province (between April and May 2006) largely because of the historical predominance of Zimbabwean migrants on farms in the far north of Limpopo province and the increasing numbers of Zimbabwean migrants fleeing the deteriorating political and economic situation in Zimbabwe. According to HRW, the situation of Zimbabweans in Limpopo province shows two aspects of the problem."If undocumented, a Zimbabwean migrant is liable to be arrested, detained, and deported under conditions that flout South Africa’s Immigration Act. And documented or not, farm workers on commercial farms are subject to their employers violating basic employment law protections." The HRW's report says that SA's Immigration Act is routinely violated. "When apprehending suspected undocumented foreigners, police and immigration officials fail to verify their status and identity, and police and military personnel assault and extort money from foreign migrants. "Immigration officers also detain undocumented foreigners for more than 30 days without pursuing proper procedures, and detention conditions do not meet prescribed standards." In 2001 a television footage showed South African Police Service members using illegal immigrants as bait to train dogs. Three members of the North East Rand dog unit in Benoni turned their dogs on illegal Mozambican immigrants. South Africa's immigration law makes no provision for migrant workers facing deportation to collect their unpaid wages and transfer their earnings, savings, and personal belongings. With respect to labour laws, farmers openly disregard the minimum wage, sometimes use a piece rate system rather than the hours of work to calculate remuneration, and make unlawful deductions from workers’ wages, the report notes. The prescribed basic conditions of employment for farm workers create disincentives for employers to provide housing for workers. Though migrant workers are legally entitled to workers’ compensation, there are obstacles to them receiving compensation settlements. Documented Zimbabwean farm workers who worked under South African farm supervisors complained of discriminatory treatment. "The violations of immigration and employment laws, and deficiencies in these laws, result in the infringement on rights that migrants should enjoy under the constitution of South Africa. "These rights include, among others, the right to personal freedom and security, and to conditions of detention that are consistent with human dignity and privacy." The failure to protect the constitutional rights of migrants also frequently violates South Africa’s international obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Human Rights Watch has called on South Africa to amend the immigration law by inserting provisions to protect migrants against arrest and deportation when their illegal status is due to bureaucratic deficiencies in providing workers’ documentation in a timely fashion. "The government is urged to become a party to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, and to incorporate its provisions in the Immigration Act. "The government should also enforce compliance with its immigration and labour laws. The government should ensure that the procedures for arrest, detention, and deportation in its immigration law are enforced. "It should also create a system that permits migrants to report human rights abuses they have experienced; hire more labour inspectors; train immigration and police officials to adhere to the law; and investigate and punish those officials who violate the law. "The government should remove obstacles from the relevant law to enable migrant workers to receive the workers’ compensation to which they are legally entitled." Human Rights Watch calls on the government to offset the legal disincentives for farmers to provide housing by developing a housing policy for farm workers. According to the rights group, South Africa needs to rapidly devise a housing policy for farm workers "if it is to meet its constitutional obligations, which were endorsed in 2000 by the Constitutional Court", to progressively realise the provision of adequate housing for everyone. To what extent “everyone” will include migrants will likely depend on future adjudication, the HRW says. Human Rights Watch has also urged the government of South Africa to address the specific situation of undocumented Zimbabwean migrants in South Africa by devising a comprehensive policy to address the lack of status of this large group. Human Rights Watch says it conducted interviews with farmers, farm workers Zimbabwean migrants awaiting deportation, undocumented Zimbabwean migrants (usually walking on the road en route to Johannesburg) who provided information on the process of arrest, detention, and deportation of illegal foreigners. The organisation also conducted interviews with lawyers (invariably farmers themselves) who advised other farmers on compliance with the immigration law. | |
South African Migration Project (SAMP) - Queen's University - http://www.queensu.ca/samp |