Migrants badly treated says human rights body

Illegal immigrants and asylum-seekers in South Africa are often rounded up and put in detention, the country’s Human Rights Commission (HRC) said in a special report on Tuesday. The HRC said its researchers had exposed a list of abuses against migrants, including unlawfully long detentions, abuse and corruption by those in charge of them and poor conditions at the Lindela repatriation centre east of Johannesburg which hosts some 1,500 people.

“Violence towards detainees is frequently present at Lindela”, despite steps to improve conditions at the centre, the HRC stated. Commissioner Jody Kollapen said the HRC was disappointed by the “inertia of the department of home affairs” to their recommendations. “The acid test (of our democracy) is how we treat those most vulnerable and marginalised and in the South African context refugees and migrants happen to fall into that category,” he said.

The report contains recommendations, including the establishment of an independent judicial inspectorate body with responsibility for Lindela.
Asylum seekers held a sit-down protest in central Johannesburg in November, they were unhappy about the slow processing of asylum applications that often leaves them with no papers and vulnerable to arrest and deportation.