New attempts to highlight plight of refugees

Refugees in South Africa were given a voice this week with the launch of an innovative new programme involving one of the country’s national radio stations. ‘SA -FM’ will broadcast in prime time a number of pre-packaged programmes in which refugees are given the opportunity to tell of their experiences as refugees in South Africa.

“The idea is that a human face is given to the figures and statistics,” Jody Kollapen from the South African Human Rights Commission (HRC) told IRIN on Tuesday. He added: “It’s not enough to tell South African how may refugees are in the country. We have to communicate to and educate South Africans about refugees. We have to show them that refugees are just like you and I, and through that deal with xenophobia in the country.”

He explained to IRIN that the concept grew out of a scheme which the Commission ran last year, when it provided refugees with cameras, showed them how to use them, and then sent them out into the community to document refugee life. “Following on the success of this programme, we then held further workshops and trained the refugees on how to use the recording equipment. The idea was that refugees tell their own stories,” Kollapen said.

A spokesman for ‘SA-FM’ told IRIN the radio programme will initially run for a period of seven working days.

Last year, human rights organisations warned that xenophobia against asylum seekers and illegal immigrants was increasing in South Africa. A survey by the Southern Africa Migration Project (SAMP) last year said that up to 45 percent of South Africans wanted tougher restrictions on foreigners entering the country, with 25 percent saying they wanted a total ban on foreigners.

In 1997 an estimated 30 asylum seekers were killed in South in unprovoked attacks, and in June last year two Senegalese hawkers were thrown off a moving train by a group of men who were returning from a march in support of job creation. In September last year, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that there were an estimated 65,000 asylum seekers in South Africa.