targets
Khadija Magardie
The thousands of undocumented migrants and asylum-seekers entering South Africa every year often bear the brunt of the police’s predilection towards violence.
African migrants, especially, are randomly picked up by local police, and jailed for “being illegal” or on the basis of suspicion that they are involved in crime. The “Roll Back Xenophobia Campaign”, launched by the Human Rights Commission (HRC) to encourage better attitudes towards foreigners has received numerous reports of migrants being picked up from the streets and bundled into police vans. They say police interrogate them, forcing them to speak in a local language to prove their bona fides, and often say they are “too black” to be South African.
Amnesty International’s latest report singles out violations of the rights of foreigners for particular mention in its country report on South Africa. It quotes an HRC report published earlier this year, which found that “people of foreign appearance” are often subjected to arbitrary arrest, extortion, degrading verbal abuse and assault. It also described “a pattern of prolonged unlawful detentions at the Lindela Repatriation Facility” and found that a number of people had been forcibly repatriated, in spite of having a prima facie claim for refugee status. Police misconduct towards immigrants was highlighted last year when a Ghanaian research scientist was unlawfully detained by Brixton police for “being illegal”. When he complained about his treatment at the police station, he was beaten unconscious. He was released after a few hours. Similar cases have been reported to various human rights bodies concerning police harassment of immigrants. Among the cases concerned, police were accused of demanding bribes from migrants in lieu of arrest and general ill-treatment at the hands of police while in custody.
The HRC report also found that a significant number of migrants were assaulted during detention, and were subjected to degrading treatment. At the Lindela facility, for instance, detainees complained of various ill-treatment, including sleep deprivation, intimidation and lack of adequate nutrition and medical care.
Because undocumented migrants are regarded as “illegal” many fear reporting abuse at the hands of police may result in their discovery, and thus, deportation. It is therefore proving increasingly difficult for watchdog bodies to monitor and follow-up complaints of police abuse of migrants. Often those who come forward to report the abuse disappear without trace, and in some instances will not report the incidents at all, regardless of how serious. According to one refugee rights activist, immigrants often see themselves as “just another statistic”, drastically decreasing the changes of a conviction for offending police.
The status of migrants is unlikely to be helped by the proposed new legislation, in the form of the Immigration Act. The legislation encourages police and other law enforcement officials to take a tough line on immigrants, entitling an immigration officer to take anyone unable to prove citizenship upon demand into custody – “without a warrant, and if necessary, detain him or her in a prescribed manner and place until such person’s prima facie status or citizenship is ascertained”.
A researcher with the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, Bronwyn Harris, says it is “not coincidental” that the victims on the “Dog Unit” video were suspected illegal immigrants, saying their alleged status as “illegals” “rendered them particularly vulnerable to violence and other forms of abuse”.
ENDS