Rough welcome: Could South Africas new border detention centres turn deadly?

Source: bhekisisa, 24/05/2017

Experts warn that the countrys overburdened asylum system could leave
people trapped at processing centres for years
South Africa is to begin building massive border camps that could
eventually house the more than 70 000 people who apply for refugee
status annually. But civil society organisations warn that these
centres could put migrants rights and health at risk.


It was announced that cabinet had greenlighted the creation of what
the department of home affairs is calling asylum seeker processing
centres on May 17 after it approved the departments white paper on
international migration.


The centres the first of which may be at Komatipoort near the
Mozambican border will accommodate asylum seekers until the home
affairs department decides whether they qualify for refugee status.
Asylum seekers already undergo a lengthy process to prove that they
cannot return to their home countries for fear of war persecution or
violence.


Although the white paper does say that some asylum seekers may be able
to leave the centres before their applications have been adjudicated
it is unclear who might qualify for early release.
Currently those seeking asylum wait about three years to hear whether
their application has been successful according to a 2015 study by the
African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS) and legal advocacy
group Lawyers for Human Rights. The longest reported time spent in
the system was just under 19 years.


Roshan Dadoo is the regional advocacy officer at the Consortium for
Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (Cormsa). She says
administrative bungling has led to a huge backlog in appeals that
could leave people stuck at centres for years.


Continued alleged abuses at Lindela could be a warning
Meanwhile some experts fear South Africas track record with detention
centres for migrants does not bode well for the shift to large-scale
camps.


The Lindela Repatriation Centre in Krugersdorp for undocumented
migrants has a long history of human rights abuses. In 1999, a South
African Human Rights Commission investigation into Lindela found poor
nutrition and medical care were common.


A year later the body cited concerns over living conditions assault
and the centres treatment of children who it is not authorised to
house. The commission noted that people who had been transferred to
Lindela from prisons often reported that correctional facilities
offered better living conditions.


The government has largely ignored reports of abuses at Lindela said
Sharon Ekambaram the head of the refugee and migrant rights programme
at Lawyers for Human Rights.


Ekambaram alleges that access to medical care for detainees had
declined since a previous 2014 investigation by the international
humanitarian organisation MSF and the commission.


She says there is evidence of gross medical negligence at Lindela
including shortages of treatment for HIV tuberculosis (TB) and
sexually transmitted infections (STIs). When medication was available
people were often forced to pay for it.


There are indications that conditions in the centre were rife for the
spread of HIV because of the lack of condoms. She explains there is
also evidence that the centre suffers from poor ventilation which has
been known to increase the risk of TB transmission in detention
settings.


Currently the national health department provides free HIV and TB
treatment to people regardless of their immigration status including
prisoners.


She also alleges there is evidence of seven suspicious deaths. In five
of the seven deaths people had allegedly consulted the clinic multiple
times only to be given headache tablets or vitamins as their
conditions deteriorated.


Ekambaram alleges that Lindela detainees were beaten with pipes and
shot at close range with rubber bullets in April after scuffles broke
out between prisoners.


Private security company Bosasa is in charge of the centre. Bosasa
Executive director Papa Leshabane says the company’s contract with
home affairs precludes it from commenting on conditions at Lindela.


Home affairs spokesperson Thabo Mokgola has denied the
allegations.


He says detainees were instead peacefully removed after they attempted
to assault officials. Mokgola says they had the “intention to
riot”.


Ekambaram explains: “The extent of human rights violations were seeing
at Lindela is worrying. We are concerned that the border centres will
be run in a similarly undemocratic way.


Mokgola maintains that Lindelas healthcare services meet United
Nations standards and are “constantly improving”.


Calls to stop the creation of centres have gone unheard
Civil society organisations have repeatedly called for the planned
border camps to be axed in submissions on both the green and white
papers.


ACMS research chair on migration Loren Landau has accused home affairs
of failing to hold broad consultations on proposed changes to refugee
policies.


The discussions are often announced a few days in advance and only a
few people are informed.


Landau and others say changes to refugee policies put forward in home
affairs green and white papers were implemented long before the white
papers approval last week.


Recent amendments to the Refugee Act have for instance already
curtailed refugees right to work and granted home affairs increased
power to open and close inland refugee receptions.


Reception offices in Port Elizabeth and Cape Town are already closed
although a court judgment may force home affairs to reopen the Eastern
Cape centre. Ekambaram says this has contributed to overcrowding at
Lindela.


People do not get the opportunity to declare their situation. By the
time they cross the borders they are arrested and sent to Lindela she
explains.


Dadoo says that improving existing refugee reception offices would be
less expensive than building border camps â€" and could create
jobs.


Mokgola disagrees saying that processing failed asylum seekers at the
border will be cheaper and could help curb abuse of the system by
economic migrants posing as asylum seekers.


But new rules are unlikely to stem immigration says Landau: “The
number of people coming into the country will not change but more
people will be pushed underground without documents.


Whos watching who?


Changes to refugee regulations could also put South Africa in
violation of the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status
of Refugees under which South Africa committed to a policy of
nonencampment Dadoo warns.


Mokgola argues there is a distinction between the temporary centres
the department will implement and permanent detention camps.


He says government and civil society organisations will also be
allowed to monitor processing centres. We will allow all relevant
stakeholders and partners such as the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees [UNHCR] the South African Human Rights Commission and
nongovernment organisations to ensure there is proper monitoring and
compliance.


Meanwhile the spokesperson for the UNHCRs Southern Africa office
Markku Aikomus says it may not have the budget to support
centres.


The national health department has also confirmed that clinics in
border centres will be monitored just as public clinics and hospitals
are says spokesperson Popo Maja. HIV TB and STI services will be in
line with national policies.


Meanwhile Home affairs has already approached some organisations such
as international organisation the Jesuit Refugee Service to possibly
provide healthcare in centres. South Africa director Johan Viljoen
says the Jesuit Refugee Services involvement will depend on whether
the UNHCR agrees to sign on to the system.


According to Mokgola South Africs roll-out of detention centres will
learn not only from experiences in Lindela but also in countries such
as Australia and Canada which have established processing
centres.


These are contexts Landau says that have little in common with South
Africa. The general ethos here is not about protection of human
rights. It is about ensuring that very few people come into South Africa.