South Africa has done its best to provide protection and assistance to the victims of the xenophobic attacks and should not be blamed for detaining undocumented people from Glenanda, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Thursday.
UNHCR representative for Southern Africa, Sanda Kimbimbi, said the UNHCR was in support of the government’s move to detain those who refused to register for temporary identification cards.
”The government has done its best to provide protection and assistance to those affected by the xenophobic attacks.
”They exhausted all channels and involved the UNHCR at every stage when they were trying to convince people to register. Every attempt was made and there were representatives from UNHCR at the camp.
”I personally went to Glenanda and I spoke to the people in English, French and Lingala. I gave them the opportunity to ask questions about the IDs but it was clear they did not want to register,” Kimbimbi said.
He said it was made clear to the displaced people that the IDs would not affect those who already had refugee or asylum seeker status.
Kimbimbi said a number of the displaced people had a strategy to portray South Africa as an ”intolerant” nation so that they could be sent to a third country in Europe to seek asylum.
”It was a clear strategy by some to intimidate others to provoke a crisis so that the South African government would be forced to take measures that would be deemed adverse.
”They wanted to paint a picture to the whole world that South Africa is against immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees,” Kimbimbi said.
Commenting on the recognised asylum seekers and refugees who left Lindela on Wednesday night after their verification, Kimbimbi said it was made clear to them that they would not be able to return to Glenanda or be taken care of by the government.
Hundreds of people left the detention centre after the verification and are said to be destitute.
Excessive force
Meanwhile, Amnesty International said SA had violated its obligations under international law in its treatment of refugees at Glenanda.
It called for a full investigation into police using ”excessive force” against refugees.
The organisation condemned the way officials had ”denied access to adequate food” to those who failed to go through the registration process at Glenanda.
”This constitutes a violation of South Africa’s obligations under international law,” Amnesty said in a statement.
In terms of a government arrangement, residents at the camp who could not produce documents were invited to register their details in exchange for being allowed to stay in the country for six months.
Some residents feared that this would cancel existing agreements with the Department of Home Affairs that secured their right to be in the country. – Sapa